on the porch
by moth light we sit -
not a word between us
_______________
just walking sidewalks,
a stranger
in a strange town,
when a child from his lawn
says "hello"
_______________
alone tonight -
a moth taps
at the window
_______________
gembun
only grass
where the homestead stood
even here
I am far
from home . . .
_______________
cruel words
the inadequacy of long-stemmed roses
_______________
hearing your fame
on the radio, I go
walking streets of leaves -
longing to see you, I ache,
having no success to speak of
_______________
looking down
on that distant page
of meadow -
a railroad train straight as a sentence
and I too mountain high to read its noise
_______________
gembun
these first cool nights
a neighbor burns apple wood ...
it's not so much memory
that comes wafting back,
as a trace of legend
_______________
gembun
autumn leaves and wrought iron fences
the novel long deferred
memory
without meaning
_______________
cherita
death and distant thunder
the question
I dare not ask
a spring breeze fingers
a
hemline
_______________
cherita
his clothes to charity
unpacking the suitcases
of the vacation no longer awaited
finding
the Valentine meant
for today
_______________
the tilt
of her head to undo
an earring -
fortresses crumble into
winter moonlight
_______________
always
it may be
the shadow of
a hedge
or the dusk of
a tool shed
or the darkness
surrounding
a party
but whatever else
it may be
it is always
touch and go
for lovers
_______________
I stick with the
weather
the erotic jive
in her eyes
shuts
down
_______________
having run out
of propane
we go to bed early -
her warmth the length of me
this winter night
_______________
gembun
the usual sorrow at the usual hour
in the lustre
of the silver tray
the red rose
darkly
********* ********* *********
Acknowledgments
are due the editors of the following publications
where these poems, sometimes in different form, first appeared:
Hummingbird, magazine
of the short poem
Lynx, journal for linking poets
still, a journal of short verse
Tanka Splendor, anthology