Colors of Life

Strata of colors
purple, greens, gray
all sedimented

rich, deep draughts of days
nature-sipping communion
accumulated loss

unequal hues
vivid, attenuated
lived at different pitch

layered, distorted
metamorphosed
eroded into stories

geographic sagas
ascendant peaks
desolating caves

highly visible
invisible landscapes
of intricate design

scraped out, polished
by ebb and flows
of mortal consequence.

Two Boys at Play

Two boys playing
in the field
chasing geese
dipping for tadpoles
in rain-fed
shallow, spring pond

one tall, white-haired
the other, small

spotting the moon
in morning sky
looking for bluebirds
in nesting box
framed between
apple-tree limbs

one, remembering
the other, discovering

throwing a ball
for eager dog
running behind
at tumbling pace
while watched
by a grazing horse

one, young again
hand in hand with his boy-self.

Woodpecker Escalator

Hairy down
downy up

to suet station

red-bellied up
downy down
hairy back up

interspersed
with nuthatches
on pine-bark tracks

missing the fun
a red-headed
and pileated.

Silly Goose Congress

The geese convened
their spring congress
on a manure pile

this noon
seeking, finding
nourishment

king or queen
squawked orders
unheeded
amidst wing-tip jostling
for best feeding spots
on slippery edge

eventually sated
they waddled
to a watering hole
and drank their fill
to accomplish
legislative digestion.

Lost Sounds

Sitting, waiting
for the woods to speak

to receive greetings
from the stream
trees and leaves
a passing breeze

muffled, muted
by distant trucks
roaring jet plane

chain saw buzz

natural whispers
buried beneath
distracting mound
of dissonant sounds.