winter forest
light of the rising sun
passes straight through
needle litter
carpeting the forest floor
copper clean
straight trunks
standing tall and tidy
lack character
spring brings blossoms
but how can the trees trust
spring sometimes lies
the gnarled tree
stunted and deformed
stands post-storm
breezy days
cool air weaves its way
through the pines
birds abound,
passing through again,
heading home
the spring thaw
muddy ground squishes
underfoot
dripping leaves,
patter of bulbous rain;
din of spring
color bursts,
fatal assault upon
dreary days
frost on grass
early morning chill
felt through eyes
wave wall warps,
becoming tubular
surf crashes
mountains turn
to smooth, round boulders,
then to pebbles
lost ruins
a temple overgrown,
recycled
slate gray lake
will be turquoise in time
new eyes, new lake
Taken in August of 2019 at Big Almaty Lake
time may flow
but i’m tethered to now —
one feeling
masterless
puppet of infinite strings,
tied to all
music plays
and I ebb and swell
with no mind
calm & storm
harmoniously layered
in one space
chase it, and
it’s gone forever
be, and it is
sun shimmer,
flashing off the waves,
summer drifts
tall grass,
from green to tawny,
summer’s span
shady creek
between pines and pasture:
sun escape
desolate:
bare soil in clumps and clods;
sun gone mean
far thunder,
rumbling skies and rain scent:
summer storm
shore wash:
chasing, and chased by,
tiny feet
crab sand art
alien beach language
’til high tide
dark clouds.
fishing boats race
churning seas
spiked urchin
wedged amid the rocks,
step wisely
low tide
glass sea stretches to
the breakers
snowy woods
glows in the moonlight
fox tracks
silent hour
smoke, a farm nearby?
who knocks?
barren woods
morning light will pass through
night’s void
who huddles?
a roadside silhouette
hitcher? boulder?
cloud & moon
paint different homesteads
from same scene
eyelid weight
like snow accumulates
to avalanche
what world is this
where doors are portals
through space-time?
sleepless, and
processing drops to
dial-up speed
your meeting
is more sedating
than telling
the world blurs
walking insomniac
slows to zero
palm trees waving
under gray, stormy skies
delusion rocked
foggy city
bridge top corner juts
from river’s cloud
monochrome town
fog drained your varied hues,
what feats light works
cloudy mountain
layers of gray stay silent
keeping secrets
vodka, no ice
peering out a window
into nothing
chirps & clicks,
throaty frog croaks
nightly nocturne
just past dusk
bats take to balconies
urban caves
mountain skies
glow of nebula
ghosts in color
northern summer
dawn colors ever on
the horizon
deep north winter
light a distant flare
in Stygian eons
Tiger Riding for Beginners 