June 16, 7:30pm

Backyard cast in shadows. Only a neighbor's house alight in brilliant white, roof outlined in bright forest green. Burgundy shutters glowing.

The scent of dying green from another neighbor's recently mown lawn.

juncos

beneath this morning's bird feeder
dark-eyed juncos dot the snow
bellies white on white
scratching its softness for fallen seed

january 28

a sudden jolt of Spring Fever
in 14 degrees...seriously?
but this lengthening day
its late afternoon clear skies
its light winds, with promise of even better things, demand
YES!

6:30am December 17

December's fat moon casts a big patch of bright in the high western sky.

tic tac toe

Jet contrails slice the blue sky morning. Ultimate big scale tic tac toe.

Saturday

Saturday wakes with the sun,
grins, pops out of bed
and into its play clothes.

morning fog

this morning's fog wraps all in softness
except for four yellow vehicles glowing in the parking lot

beads of promise

little beads of promise:
first small buds dot the Christmas cactus

but for a sole leaf

another for Mindful Writing Day

the young tree stands

stark naked, but for a sole leaf

still delicately clinging

shimmering birds

for Mindful Writing Day

overhead lights paint Vs on the froth of bubbles in the sink
a sudden flock of shimmering birds flies through the clouds

October wind

today's mad October wind howls
slamming leaves to Timbuktu
turning walkers into hurried hunchbacks

polka dots

pasted to the wet walk
a bronzed golden leaf
wears polka dot imprints
left by a passing sole

dandelions

Silky silver orbs catch the evening light. Dandelions.

robin

She scampers across the prairie burn, invisible but for her orange rust breast against the charred remains.

northwest hair

Crazy southeast winds bluster, giving everyone northwest hair, bald gentlemen excepted.

apple tree

Spring's white explosion presages a bough-breaking red autumn.

old springs

The squeaky springs in my favorite old chair keep up a running commentary as I sit, shift, lift, lean into and out of.

Kirill Gerstein playing Bach's English Suite

In a rush notes tumble from the piano roll over each other flood the hall whirl out the door and into the night.

night party

After three days of soggy clouds, this cobalt blue night. Jupiter and Venus exult.

forsythia

An audacious splash of yellow challenges the gray, heavy day: forsythia.

turtle

on a weather worn log
slanting up from the shallow pond
sits the old turtle
still as a tombstone
catching the last weak rays
of a setting sun

showdown

Sunset's gold leaf lightly attaches to everything beneath this posturing, angry black sky.