From Unpredictable Hue, published in 2019.
78.
Zinnia
the summer over
Not goodbye
yet, you say
but as I pass you reach out
and you brush my leg
9/5/18
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Haiku/Tanka/Shadorma
Shadorma 144, 149
From Unpredictable Hue, 2019.
144.
Drainpipe curves
up and to the right
Straights itself
picks up speed.
Galvanized run to the roof.
Mouth open. Thirsty.
12/27/18
149.
Eleven
aloe plants lined up
windowsill
sun-seekers
in four-inch pots that next year
will pinch at the roots.
12/27/18
Shadorma 140
From Unpredictable Hue, 2019.
140.
Patterns and
how they do compete
for my eye
cast over
the array of surfaces
in this stranger’s life
12/13/18
Shadorma 138, 146
From Unpredictable Hue, 2019.
People pass in and out of your life at different speeds and in different ways, or maybe they never appear at all, no matter what you think.
138.
oh she talks
and she talks while we
have to wait
with no choice
as to whom we wait with and
oh she talks she talks.
11/29/18
146.
I thought I
saw your car but it
was someone
else who I
did not know too late because
I waved to not-you.
12/27/18
Shadorma 136, 139, 145, 147,148
From Unpredictable Hue, 2019.
Grocery shopping is a thread through my life. Several times a week I go to the grocery store.
136.
Checkout line.
Conveyor belt. Goods
move forward
counted up
while a wet spot on the belt
rises rolls repeats
11/29/18
139.
Canned pumpkin
bottles of iced tea
greeting cards
in wire racks
that twirl. What it is to need.
What it is to lack.
11/29/18
145.
The orchids
clustered at checkout
Cut-price and
a bargain.
The lanes full of shoppers who
spare them not a glance.
12/27/18
147.
Pull a cart
brown wrapped rectangles
piled this high
and heavy
you move slow. Kids run past you
stop short. Ouch your foot.
12/27/18
148.
suddenly
animal crackers
I wanted
no reason
other than this one: to bare
my teeth at you. Grrr.
12/27/18
Shadorma 132, 135
From Unpredictable Hue, 2019.
Driving in the car.
132.
Traffic light
signal pushed cars stop
Crosswalk and
one man copes
We wait through his slow scurry
on weary old legs
11/29/18
135.
Arrival
and the wide open
parking lot
a new set
of choices for the person
who may not want them
11/29/18
Shadorma 141, 142
From Unpredictable Hue, 2019.
My years as a competitive swimmer and the companion always at my side – time.
141.
the stopwatch
my escort for years
and miles and
I never
could touch it out we always
finished in a tie
12/13/18
142.
the stopwatch
and I we swam years
in rhythm
stroke for stroke
sweep hand and arm pull head down
a hard splash finish
12/13/18
