stuck inside
the dog gets up
and turns around
autumn nightfall
dropping my son off
for something else
where I sit
on my usual bench
remains of a nut
most of his studying
looking
out the window
on the trail again...
walking deeper
into myself
knotty pine cabinet
above the toilet
two knots look back
after our visit
in quiet, the things
I forgot to say...
before bed
my son's music louder
than mine
Halloween-
to a simple question
my life story
first snow gone-
this steady need
to practice
I choose one-
a roomful of chairs
without people
crickets...
my eyes closed
to the day
lunar eclipse-
back inside something I did
or didn't do
letting her
walk all over me
ladybug
in her sleep
she steals back
her hand
back home
these trees I knew
in all their seasons
another full moon
my checkbook
still unbalanced
snow filling
our tracks into the woods
by heart
on the wall
Jesus on the cross
above her side of the bed
breeding pairs
at the zoo-
with strollers
undefended:
in the cold rain
their snow fort
long wait alone
in the parking lot...
a dog in the next car
keeping quiet
the day's last light
on new grass
she wanders away...
her snail disembarks
the matchbox truck
alone
in the middle of a crowd
someone I knew
always takes his time
the custodian watches
the floor dry
peepers
my daughter whispers
something she knows
reading her letter-
suddenly aware of the look
on my face
from room to room
on the Clue board
a tiny spider
by the ocean...
again filled
with emptiness
reading into it
as much as i can
my life
a few floors down
in another building
someone else looks out
so much we have...
yet between us too
an emptiness
a few snow flakes
entering the woods
silence
cold dusk
my thoughts pass through
a crow flying by
boardwalk-
we go to one end
then the other
the plant in the window
has gone everywhere
it can
spring frost-
the park cannon aimed
at the church
in the empty room
two quiet types
father and son
despite
the development
deer path
a flat tire
near my father's grave
I stop to visit
in love
bicycling
into the snowstorm
the spread of stars
wind moves the snow
from where it fell
between bites
from the apple
he stares...
lingering in bed...
the ceiling has no
answers
flea market-
the Rubik's cube
already solved
snow fall-
my daughter asks where
we are going...
left and right
he follows the way
of his kicked stone
to start the day
her slipper sounds
too fast
winter stars-
our meeting
un-arranged
wondering ...
will the squirrel find
half of what it buried?
police car-
my thoughts of what I've done
wrong
as they control
their dogs
meeting...
most of the rain
not falling
on me
mower won't start
busy as a bee
a bee
after the pleasant part
of our walk
we hurry
straight out
of a dream
another day
steady rain
a pickle
in the parking lot
the dates
on the coins
I give up...
dinner over-
he addresses
some crumbs
spring
removing the neighbors
from view
the chainlink fence
runs into
high water
the crow
in me
gets a response
the habit of looking
where it used to be
- the mirror
garden walk-
she checks herself
in the pond
taking off my clothes
my heart
closer...
meeting her boyfriend
our handshake
out of synch
sneaking M & M's...
the crunching
in my ears
after the party
undressing
myself
alone in the waiting room
checking the plant
for reality
wanting my old life
when I wanted
my present life
morning zazen:
marriage counseling
ourselves
droning plane fades out...
how little difference it makes
what age I am
my child asks
what keeps the moon up?
you do, I reply
lunch alone
without a book
I read my mind
walking
through more
- my life
being there
in the woods
a tree falls
cross country runner
no one ahead
or behind
each
of the rain drops
that touch her...
mountaintop:
giving back
each breath
free spirits
a year later
they return
the way
rain takes
the mountain
for my son:
lifting a stone
to see
watering their plants
seeing their house
without them
rehearsing
the reading
to no one
the clouds
calligraphy
reads...
day break-
from the bread truck's rook
frost swirls
dreary day...
jack o'lantern collapsed
on it's grin
crane
on the horizon
holds a cloud
at the cliff edge
my whole life
behind me
closed-
deep inside
a light
under the manhole
the night gives
a gurgle
after the thriller
the wideness
of bed
river bank swallows-
my beer label
peels easily
lying in the leaves-
the sun shares the shape
of her corduroys
the hypnotist
describes her technique...
sound of the stream
swallows sweep
through the cemetery
- fresh grave
stiff wind-
shadows of things
stretch on the street
