All day a thick rain
thunders from the darkened sky;
the dogs hide inside.
Pigeons coo, “What’s up with you?”
as the rain begins to wane.
(April 30, 2026)
Category: tanka
-
- Climate
another warm day
too warm for February
the knife’s at our throat
belief thrives in a stasischange requires an awareness
2) Predictive Value in Metaphoreach morning we ask
after the night’s restlessness
as if a portent
one thing is like anotherthus as above so below
(February 10, 2026)
-
The full moon’s near Jupiter—
as if I can know
what someone else has told me.
I believe and see
the sky unfold around me,
each star in its place
fixed tightly with divine faith.
I know only this:
my truth is only my truth.
The chihuahua knows
he must go into the dark;
I open the door.
He barks at a Great-horned owl
who stares into the cold night.
(January 4, 2026)
-
inevitable
by
I make our dinner—
noodles with snow peas and shrimp.
She is not hungry.
We have forgottenhow many times we’ve been here.
Decades of hope lost.
Another year ends—Our pensions are still enough;
the night darkly falls.
We drink to forget—Tonight we dance a circle;
again, we are here.
Again, day falls into night.Life is inevitable.
(New Year’s Eve, 2025)
-
New Year’s Eve (2020)
All day the rain fell
Soaking the cold winter ground
The year ends tonight
(December 31, 2020)
New Year’s Eve
It’s all too simple—
to watch the clock strike midnight:
Dust settles to earth.
Nothing much ever changes:we laugh, we sing, then we don’t.
(December 31, 2021)
another year
the dogs bark out back
again the wind ignores them
each to their nature
a warm new year’s eveends the hottest year ever
our world is burning
we live deludedwithout trust in what we see
shadows form our wall
of course old leaves fallas easy as the sun sets—
another new year
the wind is only the windthe sun will rise without us
(December 31, 2024)
The Mundane Patterns Along the Way
another day ends
the night swallows the last light
a new year begins
the old clock rings outten minutes behind the time
the night knows no time
fireworks break the lightacross the darkest of skies
rain falls to the sea
the morning is coldleaves have fallen from the trees
for now the wind waits
ring out bells ring in ring outring in bells ring out ring in
(January 1, 2024)
New Year’s Day
Day breaks once again;
its unrelenting hunger
devours us all.
My end is my beginning;my beginning is my end.
(January 1, 2022)A Few Days Past New Year’s
Searching for something else,
a honey bee dances around my head,
Once, I would have jumped up
waving him away; now,
I shake my head,
and he floats away,
as I will eventually. Now
with less time than I’ve had,
there are no new beginnings
just a slow unraveling.
(January 3, 2020)
-
storms rage without rain
like shrouds across the dry earth
trees drop their dead leaves
each night grows longer
one more minute of light less—
incremental death
i’m tired of trying—
too cynical to pretend
darkness has not come
it is ironic
with the weight of centuries
nothing can be done
the sycamore’s branches fallI fear spring will not return
(October 21, 2025)
-
earth turns towards the sun
trees abandon their crisp leaves
the kidney wood blooms
the heat in texashangs heavily in the air
summer will not leave
lizards sprint sprightlyacross the back patio
no rain for weeks now
they warn it will endeven now summer lingers
like a slow sickness
everything unfolds slowlywe are here then we are not
(September 22, 2025)
-
Some days just walking—
and I lean from the earth’s core
like a falling star.
I stand up quickly,birds, planets, and stars swarm like flies;
I fall to my knees.
Nothing is stable,yet, I expect the sunrise
as I kneel in prayer.
One hand touches a wall,the other reaches into air
for something not there.
The earth spins about the sun,as my fingers lose their grip.
(May 3, 2025)
-
I have a Spring cold,
my chest thick with congestion.
Still, I go outside.
One must be at work,they say, for inspiration
to find room to breathe.
Oxalis from mom’shouse in Victoria grows
beneath the iris.
Our yard is chaosplanned out from the beginning;
nature is random.
The roses need to be pruned.A hummingbird whirrs nearby.
(April 11, 2025) -
The grass is dead; heat
and lack of water condemned
it to a fiery death.
The sun sets the skyon fire; the air vanishes
with the last ember.
The dark cannot grantreprieve from the constant heat;
our sweat turns to ash.
There is no relief.Our father has failed us all
The sun chars the dark.
God smells of stale death in ice;A silent corpse’s last breath.
(March 24, 2025)
-
Occluded
by
I’ve lost my glasses.
Fog hangs thick; it’s hard to see
beyond the back fence.
The new moon lurks above me,
almost as dark as the sky.
(January 19, 2025)
-
another year
by
the dogs bark out back
again the wind ignores them
each to their nature
a warm new year’s eveends the hottest year ever
our world is burning
we live deludedwithout trust in what we see
shadows form our wall
of course old leaves fallas easy as the sun sets—
another new year
the wind is only the windthe sun will rise without us
(December 31, 2024)
-
i see so little,
in the time I’ve been given,
if i think too much
the chinquapin wavesshadows about the back yard:
such a bright spring day
actuary chartspredict my death in ten years;
a rose bloomed today
i wish i knew moreabout the vicissitudes
of time and of love.
tonight, a new moon rises;the tower clock chimes the hour
(April 17, 2024)
-
Outside in the yard,
spring’s green garden grows dormant;
ice holds to the ground.
Petals fall like snow.As I walk through the garden,
the cold kills the rose.
My son wants something:I can only be myself.
Winter’s wind is cold.
Ice covers the grass;Even inside, I am cold.
All my friends have gone.
The low grey clouds hang like shrouds;the cold grows into the night.
(January 15, 2024)
-
another day ends
the night swallows the last light
a new year begins
the old clock rings outten minutes behind the time
the night knows no time
fireworks break the lightacross the darkest of skies
rain falls to the sea
the morning is coldleaves have fallen from the trees
for now the wind waits
ring out bells ring in ring outring in bells ring out ring in
(January 1, 2024)
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