taking care of mother   it’s not always sad you know it’s not always gloom just look at all the flowers and ponder the pearl moon   the oceans speak of flashes their colors out of view the beetle bugs and fireflies they know just…

they’re all holding, or standing near, a glass or decanter of wine, and wearing the clothes I fluff, fold and space on a daily basis. Oh, ETFs! (Evil-to-folds), How much consternation you bring. My Goodfellow associate glides by, a silk quilt over her shoulder like…

It’s the closest you’ll ever get To being a baby again None of these words make sense But you know they are supposed to   Start at the beginning Re-learn the alphabet You’ll say words wrong No one will understand you You will be frustrated…

I feel the need to apologize to the bugs I kill in the house: “Sorry, guy,” ruefully, to the silverfish I squish, his softness a smear on my mint green wall.   Just days ago, I watched a minute ant colony industriously doom itself in the…

For $2000 a month I live in a closet With shabby windows the cold creeps in during the winters And the heat assaults its way in on summer days I’m either bundled up or lounging in underwear The rat is the worst of it Beady…

Windy hilltop, grizzled chest bared to the elements, those about me concerned but ineffective this is a war within myself  that I must win and lose Win and lose in simultaneous tumbling tossing warring wrestling striving full energy, at full speed,, rocketing through existential space…

Weeds Like weeds among the flowers in my yard, you sneak inside my soul and block the sun. I wish at times like this my heart was hard. There was a time when loving you was fun but now it feels like leeches at the…

The Will of Nature   I’m lucky – I get to explain to angst ridden teens how trees grow on mountain sides. And most of the time they buy it but, once in a while, one of those kids scoffs at the will of Nature….

Lucky thirteen and nowhere near midnight Nowhere still closer to daylight It’s the time of night where one party ends And another begins Every song sounds better And the pool is wetter Some folks can hang and some folks can’t Some keep drinking when they…

What are you doing, little flower? You’re not supposed to be here. This is not the place for your kind. Stone cold concrete is paved here. Small seeds aren’t supposed to grow. The cracks in the sidewalk aren’t your’s. The asphalt boils around here, tiny…