Dancing Cherries

Long-stemmed red cherries
dancing on a dish

jitterbugging
with lindy twirls and twists

soft-shoe kick routines
tapping edge to edge

Charleston-style flapping
tango mixed with jigs

allemande right and left
promenading home

four dancing cherries
slightly tipsy in still life.

Earthly Sacrament

Flowery flutes
slender pitchers
grassy net
buttercups
curved leaf dippers

receiving chalices

transforming rain
silent dew drops
graceful snowflakes
glistening ice
nourishing fog

watery sacraments

circulating
in global patterns
intricate forms
multiphasic
miracle draught

free for the taking.

Ballerina Tree

Bejeweled
fully flounced
in graceful pose

foliated
in glowing colors
limb to limb

tips of red
dipped in orange
gilded edges

slightest curtsey
east-west bows
with soft breezes

a sudden gust
discarded heap
of tutu leafage.

Cloud Dreams

Who hasn’t wished to step upon a cloud
dash across stratospheric fields
just ahead
of opening holes
and separating seam

somersault over downy puffs
in repeating rolls
with perfect equipoise
free of gravity
and rational restraints

ride a mare’s tail on steering winds
above equatorial zones
oceans, ice caps, desert sands
rapturously
with one flicker of consciousness

a doer of these ethereal stunts
whilst dreaming in my cloud-soft bed.

Humans Can't Stand Enlightenment

Gather round ye gullible masses
Savonarola morphed into Osama
it’s witch-burning time again

forget about learning and edification
stampede library and school barricades
it’s book-burning time again

stockpile guns and terrorizing weapons
right is might instead of reason
it’s fear-and-paranoia time again

simplify religion to be exclusive
stamping out love, charity for all
it’s persecution time again

throw away any progressive momentum
corrupting power now for the few
it’s dictator time again

turn in neighbors protesting for peace
join the mob of ignorant pawns
it’s witch-burning time again.

Bird Bush

Bird bush with a thousand perches
shorn empty of summer green
flowing cascade of bare branches
beaded up with feathered beggars
forming queues for feeder food.

Bird bush without definition
its roses, leaves replenished
exploding to full-blossom garb
camouflage for secret missions
occasional flittings in and out.