Tiger Riding for Beginners

Traveling Poet Philosopher & Occasional Wiseacre

brisk graveyard day -
fall hues and cloudless blue
warm lost souls

against blank gray
a bare tree branches
to defy fog’s screen

a crimson tree
stands out against pines
and azure skies

the fire climbs,
changes shape, and fades
until black remains

a stinkhorn unfolds,
drops its gauzy skirt, 
and soon is gone

the snake on the lake
swims with languid grace,
and i run without

a gnarled old tree -
set against a backdrop 
of fanned bamboo

a maple’s red leaves
shake and twist in the wind,
but hold tight… today

bare branches
spiral skyward
yawning wide