Rising or setting,
the low sun burnishes gold
on all our houses.
Rain Dance
After we were married
it started to rain.
We drove home.
He bought me flowers
I bought shirts he never wore
and gradually he got away
from ever wearing
me. I live with his dreams.
I watch light from the hall
caress his back
while the storm at the window
makes love to the glass.
(written 1980s sometime)
Night vision
Used then cast off,
the empty bone
china rice bowl
on the stand beside the bed
fills with shadows
in the crepuscular light
from the hall.
My sister married a sailor
and spends her time chasing
water underneath the bridge.
The bridge was never burnt
the night the torch was lit,
so now, she’s crossing it again,
returning home to watch
the window,
the harbor,
and the sea.
-written in 1979
Economic Indicators
So many papered-over
windows in the square –
some hide the future
with ladders and tubs
of paint; others
are simply empty.
Random Toddler Experience on the Subway today
A young father with a daughter in a stroller joined me in the elevator down to the train. We said good morning. When I asked the little girl if she was enjoying her Cheerios she looked me straight in the eyes and then looked away silently. When I told her that Cheerios is my favorite cereal, she looked me straight in the eyes and then looked away silently. As the elevator stopped and the door opened, I told her and her dad that I hope they have a good day. She looked me straight in the eyes and then looked away silently. When her father started to back out of the elevator the toddler lifted one hand from the little cup holding her cereal and started shouting at me as loudly as she could, “Bye-bye. Bye-bye.”
12.31 – 01.01
Sleepy midnight coughs,
yawns, stretches
crackles and pops form its limbs.
Fingertips sparkling
daybreak
