Queen Anne's Visit

Rows and rows of attendants
stationed by the roadsides
bouquets bobbing in the breeze

nodding to one another
across masses of lace
jostling for best position

side-by-side white brigades
with final-minute fidgets
anticipating Queen Anne.

History with an Asterisk

Frolicking upon some bones
hopscotching over skulls
buried beneath amnesia

pretending serenity
in prettified abodes
built upon amnesia

reinventing vistas
with rich tourist harvests
fertilized by amnesia

chatting in street cafes
among Habsburg splendors
encased in amnesia

time to stand in memory’s dock
take the oath and remember evil.

Leaf Play

One by one by one
tumbling at full tilt
eager acrobats
pinwheeling through space

one by one by one
dancing with the sun
lazy parachutes
settling without sound

one by one by one
waltzing to Strauss
extra pirouettes
accepting applause

one by one by one
riding unseen waves
precision surfers
curling toward the ground

one by one by one
performing with grace
last-act thespians
exiting the stage.

Grandmother's Picture

She I only knew
as Miss Bonnie
in oval frame
with dark, Irish eyes
her gentle manner
made manifest
through my father
in daily ways

now graying myself
her faded picture
explains my face
ancestral mirror
with lineal reach
to long-ago clans
in Britannia
and Gallic lands.

Carpe Diem

Rembrandt faces
in window frames
first the boy
then his father

against stark black
their visages shine
one bright blonde
the other duller

dawn brings fullness
noon leans to decline
these looking glasses
gather up time.

Beach Scenes

Bruegel at play
in the new world

teeming murals
on beachside sand

high-kite flyers
seekers of shells

drip castle makers
myriad wave-chasers

all erased quickly
by tidal time

canvas ready
for next day’s art.

Missing Bees

Gone swarming…
with search parties dispatched
over and under the rainbow
to find unprostituted blooms

gone swarming…
without any earthly trace
led away by some pied piper
not paid his honey wages

gone swarming…
higher and higher
lost, disoriented
by toppling magnetic poles

gone swarming…
up the climate-change hole
through a rip in space-time
fleeing human hubris.

Wild Rhubarb in the Desert

Gray-green sagebrush
well bleached grasses

crowding the desert plantscape
to casual eye and casual mind

not admitting others
missing, missing

startling green
tropical lush wild rhubarb

still surviving broad of leaf
remnant of optimistic times

making its last stand
sunbathing, basking.

Transubstantiation

A piece of food
a piece of my flesh

two single cells
a newborn child

three little letters
Einstein’s genius

four musical notes
Beethoven’s Fifth

random words
Bardian sonnet

artist’s palette
Arlesienne fields

crystalline sand
stained-glass pane

lacy snowflakes
Antarctic glacier

beams of sunlight
maple leaves

liquid droplets
rainbow mirage

cosmic dust
planetary earth

billions of clasped hands
circumferential circle.

Condolence Note to E. Dickinson

I feel your shattered heart
revealed in shards of verse
keening momentous loss
of Transcendental friend

wedding dress in readiness
instead Death interrupts
he conveyed to Cosmic peace
you trapped in Mortal state

left behind on this side
estranged from wedded bliss
Nature’s solace you accept
from chorus of bumblebees

born again in betrothal
its white becomes your shroud
daily dying now the task
parsed through Poetry’s muse

exquisite pain you feel
as Queen of Calvary
obliged by Life to linger
pondering Heaven beyond

agnostic though I am
Hope still sings and flutters
perchance for six score years
thee and he together There.

Easy Prey

Misplaced glasses
out of sight lines
for close-up task

stripped of vision
hands quickly scan
tops of surfaces

paralyzed in place
afraid to smash
omnipotent lens

eventually downed
to four-point posture
hunting, nose to ground

unspectacled me
a ready-to-eat meal
for some prehistoric beast.

Reunion

Blizzard-blown snow
resting on Kilimanjaro

monsoon raindrops
filling, flooding the Ganges

fractured sea ice
losing Arctic definition

storm-tossed hailstones
bouncing to and from Oz

glorious clouds
featherbedding the sky

all phasing in alignment
with cascading connections

drizzle, rivulets, torrents
of streaming nostalgia

after years of dispersal
liquid again in friendship.

Natural Intercourse

Welcomed by woodland ferns
with no expectations for conversation

through an archway of maple saplings
into a green-splashed place

offered a seat among the boulders
feet propped on moldering log

leaves wind-chiming in the breeze
stone walls hosting the quietude

no ambiguous expectations
no need for words or conversation.

Divine Moment

Escaped again
from the clutches of the ancient Migraine
with grappling claws of a hawk
tenacious jaws of the crocodile
primed to crush

rescued by therapeutic pill
miraculous molecules storming the brain’s barricades
to slay the writhing Torments
ready to enslave and torture every cell
to death

a great calm replaces the pain
with re-entry into Eden
transformative sacrament
gratefully received
perhaps this is God.

Ideal Spies

Untapped pool of super spies
with highly honed antennae
well attuned to people’s guile

savvy in domestic stakeouts
mission-ready for shopping malls
schools, offices, bingo halls

invisible in capes and cloaks
no need for any daggers
passing easily unnoticed

clandestine agents now for hire
women over a certain age
flaunting their gray disguise.

Denouement

He would not meet with her
the mother of a dead soldier
Casey’s mother

the tide ebbed
the winds shifted
a sea wave curled

the atmosphere shuddered
a tornado touched down
a levee gave way

tectonic plates moved
a giant sunspot exploded
one star in its distant orbit wobbled ever so slightly

he would not meet with her
the mother of a dead soldier
Casey’s mother.

River Visitor

Skimming, propelling
fast at fluid speed

thrusting kayak forward
between air and water

face bathed by a breeze
steeped in marshy smells

slipping past the riverbank
attentive redwings watch

parting weed-filled water
my paddle snares some stems

a great blue lifts itself
turtles collect the sun

momentarily I
metamorphose in place

floating like a lily
on a summer instant

granted affinity
with this riverine niche.

Repaying Nature's Debt

Economics of life and death
capital on loan as matter
energy due as recompense
to Nature’s unforgiving bank

profits clear from flowers, fauna
open-ended for humankind
bottom-line assessment test
value-added moments in time

every person with potential
sorting out investment options
ways to reap consequential days
before return to dust and ashes.

Necktie Fashions

Masculine fashion
comfortable styles
no torture required
except for neckties

civilizing garb
since Eden’s disgrace
symbolic id leash
vestigial fig leaves.

My Bluebird Charm

Totem friend
safeguarding your house
and also mine

early morning watch
ushering sunrise
in blue and russet tux

daytime cameos
perching high-wired
in silhouette

flashes of rich color
painting the canvas
in my eyes

totem friend
bestowing gifts
in daily doses.

Return of the Meteor Showers

Coming soon to darkest skies
star-studded meteor showers
wraparound celestial screen
different re-run every month
no charge for evening viewing

unscripted, spontaneous shows
Perseus and his astral kin
shooting atmospheric fireworks
vaporizing space debris
streaking ghostlike through the night

astonishingly music’s missing
no mock echo of Stars Wars theme
human ears not tuned to hear
the Big Bang symphonic sounds
rumbling through the universe.

Stirring Words

Excite the body politic
plant the flag of lofty hopes
all good deeds without delay
ever e pluribus unum

sail with democratic winds
to safe harbors of freedomland
equal rights for all the people
ever e pluribus unum

spread the wealth on rising tide
open wide the gates of promise
catch up, lift up the left behind
ever e pluribus unum

stirring words quickly muted
ideals subsumed by eager greed
system works for wealthy few
evermore me only unum.

Dreamworld

Trapped in vivid video game
eerie green light refracting

marooned on alien spaceship
surrounded by glowing white

locked in missile-launch control room
well illuminated in red

lost in maze of sinister labs
“no exit” flashing in code

probable dreamworld gone awry
overload of nightmare plots

fantasized by muddled mind
wandering in drowsy state

bewitched by blinking shadows
in darkest, pre-dawn hours

transmitting “on” and “off” status
of domestic digital stuff.

Too Long at the Fair

The spark extinguished
sadness pervades

lives running on rote
deprived of joy

day dawns, finishes
another round done

light and dark cycle
without renewal

the wonder gone
from present, future

long overdue
for eternity.

Beachfront Barrier Reef

Two-word iterations
with tropic illusions
redundant labels
for beachfront hotels

sea wave coral shell
beach dune ocean sand
coral sea beach wave
beach sand ocean coral

sand dune ocean shell
sea shell beach coral
ocean dune sand wave
sea coral ocean beach

shell dune ocean wave
beach sea coral dune
coral wave beach shell
sea sand coral ocean

coveted strip of sand
between street and sea
now concrete reef
of beach-blocking towers.

Haunted Historic Houses

Public guests in once-private spaces
like curious mourners at a wake
hearing whispery dissertations
immense fortunes often squandered
beset personages still haunting
drawing room and parlor premises

comparable story lines prevail
rags to riches to rags again
calamity or overreaching
fiddling in grasshopper mode
not insuring for disaster
persuaded the party will outlast

lavishly gowned, laced-up matrons
gazing elegantly down
beside portly, vested partners
faces frozen for endless time
giving noblesse oblige lessons
not to underestimate surprise.

Another Affair

Giddy again
about tonight

rush to finish
head racing heart

eager to get home
for sweet, new embrace

quick change of clothes
comfortable, relaxed

sacramental meal
bread, cheese, sparkling wine

bits of chocolate
to set the mood

pulse rate quickens
expecting intimacy

I begin another book.

Cycle of Now

Daily promise evanescent
tomorrow’s repeating chance
paradise lost, regained

chasing backyard butterflies
climbing trees toward heaven
endless play in the present

analyzing, probing life
prospecting unclear choices
anxieties haunt the heart

working countless hours
investing precious minutes
for generational futures

child again with memory
gifted with intimate time
reclaiming the joy of now.

The Insomniac Bat-Poet and Me

I empathize with Ms. Bat-Poet
insomniac during the day
hanging upside-down with her peers
composing, remembering in a vertical plane.

I lie awake in the night
recumbent by my husband
words inundating the brain
arranging, memorizing in a horizontal plane.

Renascence

Freed from work and family stresses
my mind detaches
gyrating through creative space
in search of…
in search of…
in search of…
a generative place.