POEM: Frangipanic Empathy

I watch a frangipani blossom --
its elegant five twisted petals 
swept downstream,
drifting toward the smooth laminar lip
that rolls over the cascade.

And I feel a teensy queasy,
watching it be lifted and whipped
over the edge.

As if I were it,
and it were me.

POEM: Teahouse

to be poured steaming tea
from a dented kettle,
in a wooden building,
hanging at the mountain's edge,
at the end of a long day's journey,
has a special spirit-raising force 

POEM: Pandemic Claustrophobia, or: Strange Ways to Suffocate

POEM: Mountain Magic

Maybe there’s no moving mountains,
but blow out the clouds and one may appear.

Out of the wall of white comes a rocky shoulder,
clad in spiky pines and stony protrusions.

POEM: Clifftop Flowers

Saffron-hued flowers huddle on a wind-whipped clifftop.

Sea breezes toss and twirl pollen,
eddies send some back down to the beach.
Land breezes feed pollen to the dark waters far below.

The flowers are ever-tousled by the wind’s rough hand.

What must they love, in their sightless stance,
that matches my sighted stare at sea and sky?

POEM: Agents of Change

They took the Moral High Ground,
commanding its lofty heights.

And never bombed trespassers,
but let them fail on their own.

Some wanted to let their anger show,
to know that they’d struck back.
Those few tumbled from the high ground,
landing in the scree of despot lackeys.

In the end, the powerless, that Juggernaut,
could not be defeated.

For every step usurpers made
shone a harsh light on their souls,

and all the world saw the gruesome image
that was reflected back.

POEM: City Noir

Neon-fired

Rippling lights,

churning & flashing,

colors dancing off the walls,

pooling & spinning into each other

Oh, how the colors glisten on wet pavement

POEM: Little-e Epiphany

The little “e” epiphany
strikes me in
the middle of the night.

Enveloped in darkness, I lie,
contemplating
the bold stories the world has told.

I think upon slapped cheeks
and
grand strategy
and
the universe outside my door.

I wonder whether one can
be change
and
change one’s being,
or
whether there’s a choice to be made.

I feel at peace —
though not enough
to drift back to sleep.

POEM: Invisible World

The clouds are on the mountain.
The world feels faint and fading.

I look out in the distance,
but my eyes can’t focus.

I believe the world is out there,
but I can never say for sure.

What’s beyond the shape of
that distant line of trees, there?

Is it something good, or
nothing of the kind?