World Aids Day

How Long?

Happy Fall

Happy Fall

Muddy Pass

The birds
would eat out of
my hands
unafraid.
The blue so sharp
it hurt my eyes.
Foxes weaving
mice through
the camp.
All night
the stars fell.
Has anyone
seen....

Talking to my Mom

Perdita

When you find her
let me know.
Is she wandering
along the reedy
shore
head down looking
for pieces of
her broken necklace.
See if she will come
when you call her,
or if her milky eyes
turn away.
Is she lost among the stones
at the dark edge
dragging one shoe
her hair a tangle of leaves.
Her fingers twist a
muddy knot
waiting
to come home.

Lotteria

Hard Shadows in November

You should be dead

to haunt the living

the empty chair at my table

the meals I eat alone.

The candle flickers

from a whisper

unheard by anyone

but me.

It is the emptiness you leave

the open space

in my heart

where the rain falls in .

The vast expanse of the Arctic

bedclothes always

cold.

The laughter unechoed

the thought held and

worried smooth by silence.