zird

Table of Contents

HOW THEY GO

She insists on kisses right on the mouth
elastic arms reach up to hug
hard and hold. I never have to shoo her
out the door,
she revs and lifts like a rocket.

He dawdles, moving slowly,
putting things in his backpack,
stopping
and turning
after a reminder to take
his bag, his gloves, his book.
He talks the whole time.

She demands a wave through the window,
and while he wants one too, he never says so.

She takes off,
running down the street,
around the corner and the next two,
to arrive panting at the top of the path
down to the school,
where she stands and waits
impatiently for me and for her brother,

who is reading his book as he walks,
or sometimes running
alongside the car laughing
while I drive slowly enough
to the same corner for yet another wave.


1-21-2007

HOLDING PATTERN

I don't really feel in the now,

right now.

I think my brain is out

on walkabout.

I feel as if

I'm going through

the motions. I wonder

if I let go,

will I whizz around the room

expelling air

and shrieking until I come

to rest.


4-14-06

TIME WELL SPENT

I was waiting for spring

logy and damp with the weight of winter
a duvet of tamped down desire
stifling under snow

there wasn't any indication
that she would ever come
that there would ever be anything
but soggy snow remainders
and water dripping drop drop drop

I closed my eyes for just a moment, waiting
thinking, perhaps she's shy
she doesn't want to be watched
when she's changing into something

more comfortable

when I opened my eyes
she was already there, nearly
still putting on her final touches
and her jewelry bud by bud

I was waiting for spring
but as it turned out
she was waiting for me


5-8-06 (published Mosaic Minds: Anticipation, May 2006)

STONED

Every time

you take me

for granted

my heart hardens

a little bit more.

One day soon

when you

come calling

I might be

taken

for granite

instead.



2-8-06

SUMMER SOUNDS

The sunlight has a hum that fills you from within
It plays a silent soothing melody from underneath your skin
The crows, they shout and rumble, a tree-filled cacophony
A chattering of magpies counterpoints with harmony
A whicker from a passing horse slips over to me here
He lifts his head and shakes his mane and perks up one brown ear
The barnyard cat walks silently out from his grassy lair
I purse my lips and whistle, am greeted with a stare
Summer's full of creature sounds, of sunlight and of air
Full of softly sighing breezes, lawnmowers growling like a bear
Wings shush, a buzzing hush, replete with song am I
The swooping sounds of summer upon me from on high


6-22-05

EPHEMERA

paper bliss buttons, skeleton leaves
foil flakes, coastal netting, barkwire
ribbon: salmon mulberry, red deco, tawny blue eyelash
harbor blue raffia, lemon sinamay
opals (frozen), eyelets (groovy), mother of pearl chips
more ribbon: swirling stitches, java weave
dream strings in forest, butter and sunflower
crushed paper in ladybug, pansy, cotton candy
silver lock, pendant frame
and
alligator clip

tiny gold clasp
tiny gold tassel
tiny gold key

junque box


8-12-03

POOKA-NINI-KITTEN-FACE

Pooka-nini-kitten-face
Concerned with food and sleep
or tuna and sleep
or ham and sleep
or eggs or yogurt or cheese and sleep.
Oh, to be a happy cat
with a bowl, a window
and a lap.


5-1-89

GAMES

The things I want from you
have never been simple.
You always gave me
what I needed without
all the words inbetween.
I find now that I bruise easily
reaching for you.
I find it hard, maybe
but if I find it impossible
I wouldn't keep trying.
Are you black
and blue too from
something I'm blind
from not looking for.
The cat reaches out to me
before you. Do you wonder
if we're playing a game
and if so is it
hide-and-seek and which
are you doing?


10-29-86

CYCLE

There is good in every thing,
When the wind begins to sing,
The pumpkin grows
and your breath shows
The scent of cider in your nose.

There is good in every time.
The trees begin their orange-red rhyme.
The geese fly vvvvv's
before the freeze,
Mittens on hands around your knees.

Summer puts itself to bed,
Sweet dreams of sunshine in your head
to keep you warm
wait out the storm
As seasons spiral round in form.


10-29-86

PAINT THE SKY

The gods decided to paint the sky
But what color they could not agree
Each one thought he'd the best reason why
The color HE chose it must be.

"Red!" cried one, "for passion done,
Let's have an inflamed sky!
Over the sunrise, let it run...
or shall we put it high?"

"No no," said two, "Red will not do,
It's simply not in fashion.
Yellow will for us be true,
Not Red's bright, bloody passion."

"Oh please," said three, "You're boring me.
Yellow is vulgar and mean.
Much too bright our sky would be...
I say, let's go with Green."

"Enough!" cried four. "My head is sore.
A Green sky will not soothe me.
Calm, peaceful Gray and nothing more,
That is the best that I see."

"But wait," said five, "Gray's not alive.
Hold on, I think I've got it.
For none of these shades do we strive.
This is one that WILL fit!"

( Look down, he said, Down to the earth... )

LIVING COLOR

The colors we feel closest to
are not the ones with color names.
What we glimpse behind our eyes forms
the generic harshness of: GREEN, RED, BLUE.
Blunt blocks of basic hue.
But, to conjure, we put nature
back in our complexions,
to add dimension,
we bring an image to the surface:
form and shade dyed by creation.
Speak of 'salmon;' the fish leaps.
Say 'ivory;' feel the trumpet
of the elephant shake our bones.
Hear 'jade;' and be delivered to the jungles
where the deepest green decorates the young girls' arms.
Ruby, lemon, sable, emerald.
In the natural palette,
the colors shine with a shape we understand.

SUM TOTAL OF POSSESSION

I'll give you more than you
bargained for. You haggle, but
would you believe this was real
if you hadn't paid for it?
Added up in years, in barely felt blows
to each emotion. The mind sways, recovers.
I hold you folded beneath my eyelids,
I only let you out to see.

I won't take you back;
tacky gift from the in-laws.
I'll bring you out when company comes.
The giver will notice if you're missing.
You're not dusty enough
for permanence.

EXTENDING FAMILY I

My grandmother's gingersnap cookies.
My father's strong work ethic.
My mother's ability to win every card game.
My grandfather's medical career.
My sister's compassion of strays, human or animal.
My cousin's easy-going wit.
My great-grandmother's 102nd birthday.
My great-aunt's published poetry, and her sister's paintings.
My uncle's ability to find good in everyone.
My brother's incredible memory.
Reflections in a mirror.

My grandmother's prejudice.
My father's drinking problem.
My mother's passivity.
My grandfather's favoritism.
My sister's surface tension.
My cousin's willingness to be led.
My great-grandmother's senility.
My great-aunt's three divorces, and her sister's suicide.
My uncle's overpowering ambition.
My brother's bad attitude.
Mirror of my soul.

AFTER RHODE ISLAND

These thoughts
I am remembering.
I am also there.
How powerful the mind is.
As if I relive it each time I bring up
the net of memory.
I see you reaching for me
A lion's mane of curls haloes you.
Your body curls like a flower.
I shall put you under glass.
That small glass bee pollinates my brain as I stare.
You catch me, you hold me.
I can only take so much.
These thoughts.
Walking with you
in sunshine, in chill down the street
we gaze in at chimeras, craning.
So many corners we can't see around.
Only the angels see around all.
Waking with you, I am
full up with these thoughts.


4-16-92

SPRINGTIME

Music loud
Window open
Spring air blowing in
Cooling me down.
You aren't home
and I keep waiting for you.

Same old things
look brand-spanking new
outside/inside.
Poetry and vanilla sundaes
heating me up.
Anything will burn
if you get it hot enough.
Funeral pyres can start
when you least expect it.

Good time of year
for fresh starts.
Put the record on and
I'll sing to you
when you get home
and the waiting is over.


4-2-84

SUNDREAMS

If it's not a dream
that you could dream,
what worth lies in its writing?
I write, begging you
Come with me.
I melt like a Dali watch
on fire with the sun
in love with the heat and
the passion of your touch.
Did you know me before?
In the surety of your movements,
I sense you nodding.
Yes, this is right.
Somewhere, perhaps in a book of songs
it must be written.
One dream for each? I think
all dreams for everyone.
And you nod again,
burning like the sun.


10-30-84

SEA URCHINS

Sea urchins
dancing
shivers
and chills...
Up on
my back
they kiss
with their
quills.
Spiny small
tingles,
shriek
held in
check.
The sea urchins
held
a dance
on my
neck.


5-10-84

VELVET SKY

I saw a velvet sky tonight.
Streetlights spread their
clean, white light.
White-washed
tipped the edges of the fabric
and all the stars
were hiding in the plush.
Pitch black robe
modeled by the heavens
sequined with starlight,
dripping over the city.
City sequined with its own
neon stars.


3-22-84

WHISKERS TWITCHING

Whiskers twitching
in suspension
he waited
almost pouncing
watching as the fly
walked across the window
oblivious to the danger
about to strike
and
fur rippling
tail slashing
the cat lifted...
and settled again
as the fly took off
lazily
effortlessly
through the air
in defiance of being dinner


10-19-83