Tiger Riding for Beginners

Traveling Poet Philosopher & Occasional Wiseacre

birdbath grows from
 fungus on a dead log;
  flitting sparrow
 is disappointed to find
 no water remains within.

light sparkles 
 on shallow water:
  winter marshland.

Winter plum blossoms
  try to trick mind and eye;
   cold fingers won't buy.

Spring waterfall
 grows by the day as ice --
  somewhere -- shrinks.

some love cherries;
 some, blossoms; some, Fall leaves.
  who loves trunk & branch?

sparrow finds food
 among well-trod cobbles,
  then flits into blur.

city landscapers
 find year-round blooms for planters,
  but I'll await
   the wildflowers that grow 
   way up on the hillside.

Spanish Moss drapes
 over Winter's bare branches
  like a gray beard.

Gator rests on stump.
 but my mind cannot rest.
  it's not "gator"
 and "stump" in the same place,
 but in the same sentence.

the river widens,
 slows / stopping, in places;
  so goes my mind.