Under the plum boughs
heavy with ripening fruit
the pregnant picker

in the humid afternoon
eggs of the broody hen

A swirl of dust
in the dry arroyo
storm clouds build

cocooned here together
pattering sounds in the copse

Past the Plieades
another bright star plunges
into nothingness

the diver surfaces
seaweed in his hair

Close to the mirror
a boy in the barber's chair
with his new bald head

there's more to our kids
than meets the eye

A frolicking bunch
in the frosty meadow
early morning

the sandhill cranes
feed in the cornstubble

Autumn sky
dune after dune

flushed with color
lost in the sea's expanse
half a day gone by

Tide shifts
water splashes over rock

closer to the blanket
only the sly moon
spies their kiss

We hear with the heart
through the flimsy veil
of worn-thin words

for the third time
"trust me", he says

Tattered sails
shattered dreams -
scent of winter roses

snowflakes large as quarters
block the mountain view

Deep in the draw
with no light
a twig snaps

quiet mind, quiet
embers in the ash

A slam dunk!
he wakes with a cramp
in his left leg

three joggers collide
in the pea-soup fog

A switching
of old steam engines
in the railyard

bony watchdog
asleep in the sun

The hatchet man
the gleam on fleshy fingers
of precious stones

forcing the oyster
to find a dark pearl

The two lines
embedded in the mind -
how to end it

floret in the pond's edge mud
let's mark its hiding place

the moon turns up
unnoticed patterns
in the pear leaves

a threadbare tapestry
the unicorn's bright horn

In the vacant lot
the refuse here and there -
red poppies

bringing her long letter
a Georgia O'Keeffe stamp

Sun-blushed rimrock
more ravens flap out
of her paintbrush

autumn's scooting clouds
in the Maple Leaf Rag

On my teacup
the cherry blossoms
in a different season

Fat Tuesday - the Carnival king
looks back and winks