to rise

Go outside now and look to the moon limping

low on the horizon where it rolled to a stop

after it was kicked and now glowers, half-collapsed

ball of copper, misshapen lunar lump waiting

to rise

Shuubun in September

This.  There is a word for this

direction we are sliding toward

this melancholy rage against

the dying weakening waning

of the light this moment when

darkness and light are in balance,

and then the darkness takes over

for a time and we slide into slumber

praying to wake again at some next

balance point when darkness is at

its height and then it turns again

and we see at last what light breaks

Another sci-fi moon

Another sci-fi moon
even more spectacular
than last night: a tall
hazy sliver burning red
with forest fire smoke

spring and other things that spring eternal

The plants I thought I killed
at least three times once by
drowning once by freezing and

once by thawing too early may
have survived my ineptitude as
there are three sprouts shooting

up from the darkness of the soil
in the pot in my garage all winter
like hope springing eternal until

you find out it's three weeds but
you don't care because everything
is finally coming alive once again.

the blessings of blogging

How amazing it is
that when I will be reading
my work in public, even if
I have been in too much pain
to write much for months,
I can come
here
and find
so much wealth
to plunder.

all the dragonflies of summer's end

nothing will prevent 

the ending of summer

yellow dragonflies

cannot slow it

red dragonflies

cannot stop it

green dragonflies

watch it go

Only touched by memory

Wasps and yellow jackets starving
in late summer, even their crawling
brings pain be still anyway

Again something settles so lightly
heavy wings brush my leg minutes
before I get the courage to look

Golden dragonfly perches, wind
flutters tickling wings until I am
clumsy only touched by memory

Cicadas

cicadas
too loud for comfort
beautiful

distracted driving

for days clouds have been
distractingly beautiful
so it's hard to drive

unsteady walks

no one cards for this
so easy to be drunk on spring
don't know my limit

early days

I like the early days
of budding spring when blooms
are hidden splashed random

know the names

It seems a minor
miracle to know the names
of flowering things.

view from the deck floor

plane flies close to the moon

birds and frogs check in

summer breeze rattles winter 

bare bones of trees

unencumbered by new growth

clouds drift by at different

speeds at different heights

tiny bugs dance between me 

and the sky      the sun sets

with little fanfare and the moon

grows brighter

can anyone 

ever do just 

one thing

?

such extravagance

such extravagance

Minnesota winter sun

diamonds everywhere

(Last?) warm day in November?

if the weather

gets any more

beautiful I

will have

to weep

autumn's pirate bounty

no pirates in sight

gold is scattered everywhere

fall beauty all mine

remember when singing

I think as long as I can remember

when singing didn't hurt this much,

I will be okay.

I never really wear jewelry

I never wear jewelry
because it's not practical
to wear it with a wrist brace

today I wore jewelry
it didn't stop the pain or
even make it better, but

the green beads were beautiful
handmade for a living wage
in South America, so

this is how I can fight back
against what I'm not quite sure,
but it still feels important

the deck dragon sheds its leaves

wind gusts and bellows
bearded beast shivers and roars
soon leaves will be gone

the night after

the night after the bloody eclipse,

the wounded moon recovers, swollen

large and obscured by scar tissue clouds