Monday, November 25, 2013

Perchance

A poem born of a bit of insomnia.

      Perchance

Sleep moves around the world
in a wave of yawns and sighs,
and for each who dozes smilingly,
another wakes and cries,
but where slumbers overlap,
they may share dreams or dread,
while where sleepers intertwine
they may spend the day in bed.

Monday, November 18, 2013

Mid-November

Another autumnal poem.


            Mid-November

Indian summer has come late this year.
Though the trees are largely bare,
we rake their leaves in our shirt sleeves
and sense the ghost of August in the air.

The migrant crows look large as mammals
and land with a thud on the autumn roof.
From the bedroom, their hard scrabble thumping
eerily echoes the prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

Our muscles are aching from all that raking
and reaching in an unaccustomed arc,
but despite the strangeness, the story is still the same:
after the light leaves, all that’s left is the dark.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Hijacked

I received one of those suspicious e-mails last wee from a friend whose bags and passport had been stolen in the Philippines, etc. and finally thought of what to do in such a situation.


            Hijacked
Another friend or mere acquaintance
has been stranded someplace they have
never been, losing something they have
never lost, and are now begging me by
e-mail in words that are not their own
to help them home again – so I put them
in touch with some generous Nigerians
who promise to give them exactly
what they need.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Night Mirror (Driving in the Dark)

I hope it's clear that this poem starts with the nighttime mode rear view mirrors often have - and which I don't like- and then ends up somewhere else.

   Night Mirror (Driving in the Dark)

I prefer the headlights’ blinding glare
telling me exactly who is where
to the dimmer romantic glow
revealing less than I need to know
(objects are closer than they may seem
in the night mirror’s deep sea dream)
so please tell me plain what’s on your mind:
do you mean to follow, pass, or fall behind?