Self-Portrait at Sixty-Five

Free-floating in the here and now
unencumbered with illusions

starting to trim the sails a bit
tying loose ends more securely

less inclined to climb Mt. Everests
seeking more compatible horizons

urge to simplify intensifying
shedding my accumulated dross

blissful in new grandmother role
grown-up pretensions not allowed

quite content with tandem existence
angles rounded after thirty-six years

life’s next adventure haunting our edges
most likely scripted without the other

anxious though for more carousel rides
while still singing in this silent cosmos.

A Fine May Day on the Concord River

Shifting into Thoreauvian gear
we launch the canoe
in full readiness
for a natural history collecting day

wind-strewn sparkles
race across the bulging surface
leaving ruffled imprints
flowing in their wake

we cruise through the canyon of silver maples
their winged futures rushing past us
waterborne
to downstream rootage

riverbanks brim with yellow-greens
ferns, grasses, wildflower foliage
goose families crowd the shore
redwings crisscross this nesting zone

rich, steeping smells tantalize
delicious tannic teas
decomposing muds
fertility reveals itself

I spot Henry David’s ghost
relaxing in crotch of weathered-sculpted trunk
appreciating
this familiar, redolent regime.

Saturday Night Baths

In quick succession
mourning dove
red-faced house finch
dapper titmouse
quite plump robin
stunning bluebird

chest-deep in water
heads ducking
flurry of splashes
fast flyaways
this beautiful eve
to some avian ball.

Word Sorcerers

Quartet of word sorcerers
geniuses and outliers all
gifted with huge imaginations
William, Vidia, Edith, Emily

placating their literary gods
with sacrifices of the human heart

rich baritone William Maxwell
empathetic, Midwestern pitch
harmonizing urbane intellect
with authentic sensibility

placating his literary gods
with sacrifices of the human heart

dissonant tenor V.S. Naipaul
clear-eyed renderings of humankind
tainted with syncopated anger
Trinidadian, Indian, cynical ex-pat

placating his literary gods
with sacrifices of the human heart

contralto singer Edith Wharton
in anguished, high-society tones
lamentations for cosseted females
caught in genderized, tribal traps

placating her literary gods
with sacrifices of the human heart

purest soprano Emily Dickinson
quiet rebel of lyric conventions
at counterpoint to other voices
with soul-felt exultations

placating her literary gods
with sacrifices of the human heart

intricate, solicitous riffs
exploitative rhythms
staccato of smothered lives
transformative motifs

placating their literary gods
with sacrifices of the human heart.