Whitewater [Haiku]

churning water
polishes river rocks
glossy smooth

Burning Bush [Tanka]

amid buff sands -
bare and blistering -
stands a shrub,
the carroty coned
ephedra bush

Chiaroscuro Green [Free Verse]

densely packed stands of pine,
the dark green 
insinuating black shadow

set against the verdant
grassy meadows
and shaggy scrubland

it makes the mountain 
look angular,
 with sharp edges
pounded into shape

the pine-writ shadows
steal depth,
suggesting absence,
creating the impression
of emptiness,

a false void...

or so it seems

Long Shadows [Free Verse]

long autumn shadows stretch
across the pavement

and it might just be that
everything has stretched out

time and thought and hope
and love and life and mystique

all smeared across the day like
shadows smear across the ground

it's a slowing of the mundane
as the mood grows sadder

winter's melancholy is moving
on the wing 

Blur [Haiku]

bright pink flowers,
staring 'til they blur -
my mind quiets

Stone Guardians [Common Meter]

A stone dog guards the temple gate
with dead, but bulging, eyes.
And gargoyles mount a stern defense
from the cathedral spires.

But what's a mounted mask to do
to keep evil at bay?
And what's the flash of fu dog teeth
to end a vicious fray?

And what would lead me to assume
that evil lies outside,
when your greeter is pure ugliness
with wild and crazy eyes?

Confluence [Free Verse]

with each breath
and each step
you feel yourself
merge with the world

pulling the outside in
pressing into the planet

each breath brings oxygen
used by Buddha or Socrates

grit granules that were 
part of mighty mountains
press into your flesh
or become your bones

the world flows through you
as you flow through the world

Walking Alone IV [Haiku]

the sage's staff
swings like a pendulum
in a clockwork walk