Irreconcilable Differences

Incompatible
bipolar
in sensibilities

one
fact-driven
toward analytic meaning

the other
fear-driven
away from reason

two at odds
completely
to the death.

Sleeping Modes

Foot dangling
beyond duvet’s edge

pillow clasped
between knee and head

limbs arranged on
soft-serve surface

tossing and turning
in ritual rhythm

back lying flat
as mummified

still wide awake
composing a poem

when sweetly ensnared
in Morpheus’s trap

again and again
night after night

until the last bell rings
and all dream wishes granted

finally then laid
ashes to ages.

Night Sky

One by one they appear
each night on the hour
bedtime-story patterns

daily greetings from the cosmos
friendly to terrestrial gazers
from their galactic places

inestimable gifts
stars, clusters, nebulae, galaxies
such splendor in the heavens

linked to unwinding truth and time
relegating human existence
to far-back balcony of this universe.

Christmas Bird Count at the Feeder

Two downy woodpeckers
nibble suet bits

flock of fifty-five juncos
polka dot the snow

house finches, titmice
swarm feeding slots

blue jay not squawking
anxious to eat

one dozen whitethroats
glean spilled seeds

two cardinal pairs
decorate the scene

lone Carolina wren
convivially visits

all bookkeeping entries
in Nature’s evolving census.

Old-Friend Roulette

Six over sixty
rolling the dice
playing as God

no more denial
or just anticipating life
now betting on our fates

who will go first
second, third through six
in this game with death

all ante up
to pot full of winnings
for the lucky (or unlucky) last.