Tiger Riding for Beginners

Traveling Poet Philosopher & Occasional Wiseacre

across the lake,
 two rainbows arch skyward:
  one, a faint echo.

poets & artists
 sit in ornate houseboats,
  translating the clouds.

grape tendrils
 encased in crystalline frost.
  blows into cupped palms.

red berries
 encased in ice:
  silver storm surprise.

yellow petals drop:
 on the lake: washed together;
  on the ground: spread out.

dark rain clouds
 hang around all day,
  without raining.

the autumn rains
 have wetted the pavement
  for days on end.

in waning sunlight,
 the shapes of shadows shift
  as boats drift.

lake waves break ashore
 unpredictably, catching
  hapless strollers.

wistful autumn days:
 i look up to the blue sky
  from the tawny grass.