Early spring
Overpass footsteps overpassing industrial water.
Gas station bananas and purple glittering
pigeons on wires,
the rhythm of traffic,
and the last dots of snow
clinging to the old  hills,
older than memory.

To let go of the vision slope
of the slope of the linear regression
of a small town wedged between the directions,
to melt with the snow into the river,
and be part of the rushing waters


just a day dream.

Four poems

Gleaner

A bowl of ice water runs through the cracks in my brain.

The fields have been harvested,

but I have gleaned an existence all the same.

A husk, a hand,

a crow staring me straight in the eye,

“I am you, too.”

If it were this way,

(a gem against the hook of the throat),

the warmth of the world in a single breath, and then

I am again in the abandoned

hacienda

that grew

roses

           for acres and acres.

The guanábanas dangling like green brains

on the verge of letting go

the rot and the roses,

the mangy dogs.

The white house with empty rooms,

and one mother and son

with all the uncertainty

of Providence.

Loss

A fish hook earring, smoothed stones from

white caps and under

tows.

Two days here, on a beach all your own.

One,

     warm, bright, sensual, blinking,

like a person in love.

The other cold, the ending of a family of sorts, the knowledge of that.

We held each other like a round stone in the palm of a child.

Don Juan

Don Juan,

I apologize for

all of the awful things I said

while you were crying on the threshhold's floor,

the dirty dishes,

And the sting of those who were you before.

There are cairns on our chests

Do you really

need to know

where the stones came from?

They've been placed slowly and with care

to mark a summit

       (or a grave)

Here, it is changeless,

driftless.

The snow comes and the snow melts and

the earth is just as stately and alone.

I touch it, I feel it, I touch you, too.

Don't call me that-

It isn't true.

I only wanted to feel the deepest you.

Dream #1

The island wasn't far,

but the water was deep,

deep and clear.

The moon had set and

the island was a looming

shadow on the horizon.

She slipped into the ink, naked, fishlike.

In the middle of the river,

or lake

( she couldn't be sure )

A sunken stadium light

illuminated the clean water,

the fish shadows,

the minnows,

stretches of seaweed,

her outstretched legs.