Change of Climate

A terrible mistake!

Unpredicted as a blizzard in August,

rose bushes and palm trees shocked,

stabbed and sagging under

bayonets of ice. Disoriented

adults blink unbelieving eyes, turn on

the weather station, numbly brew

morning coffee.

Kids in shorts and t-shirts

romp in the slick streets, exulting

with each snowball hurled, each car

door pelted white, each bus driver shaking

his fist, each on-target pop here

in summer’s mid-section,

our surprising winter

of no regrets.

Morning Walk

Have you ever

disappeared

complete

into that space

of melody

silently replete

between birdsong

above

and this crunch

of two

steady feet

beneath ?

may you know

through patient
persistent

practice
of presence

the power
of prayerful
pause..

TO LUCY (my granddaughter)

No one,

Not butterflies

Cavorting 

In this milkweed,

Nor these clouds

Sailing 

Across blue skies,

Not this hummingbird

Flitting

In my garden,

Nor pine trees

Swishing

With the breeze,

No one,

Has lips

As cute

As these....

faceless snowflakes,
their tiny mouths
sipping swaths
of blue sky

A sky so thick

seeps westwards.

Suddenly,

the mountain of fog

explodes into tiny

particles, white birds

scatter towards heaven

like faceless

snowflakes 

or fragments 

of last night’s 

dream. 

ACTIVITY REPORT

A day

like every
other-

drinking tap
water, kissing
birch trees, brewing
coffee, planting
milkweed, writing
love letters, sipping
swaths of blue sky....