Jumps About Like a Monkey

As car whizzes by
The trees don't even tremble;
Forest is so still.

 

Already my mind
Jumps about like a monkey.
I have to go out.

Lying dead and green
Fallen firs from former storm;
Sky is thickly gray.

 

Smoke from the chimney;
Mirror ripples in the stream;
Chirp of a lone bird.

 

 

 The tangled tree limbs
Hold two abandoned birds' nests--
Ancient sacrifice?

Delicate frosting
Covers the perfect round balls;
(But it's still horse shit).

 

White dots on the pine:
Fresh frozen freckles of snow
Waiting for their kin.

By the singing woods;
Moss, ancient rocks, snow and pine;
I can still mind fuck.

On This Very Day

 On this very day,
Just thirty-eight years ago--
Beloved Hira!

 

 Snow patches on lawn;
Sparkling white on some tree limbs;
Winter is creeping.

 

 

 Forsythia's bare,
Yet buds wait on brown branches
For the kiss of Spring.

 

Sun seeks out the green,
Sliding over dead brown limbs
Til it finds the life.

 

On the road again;
The woods are screaming today
In high pitched silence.

Pregnant mother log
Covered with a white blanket
For her winter rest.

Flying gray hub cap
Now lies still among dead leaves;
(Hub caps need rest too).

The logs are frosted
While the forest remains clear.
Do they love the snow?

Outlasting the Wiind

There it is again:
House floating out my window.
(Maybe I'm just nuts.)

Frost on my back lawn
Coexists with the shadows:
Green, white, brown and black.

 

A clump of green grass
Grows brightly at the road,
Defying wisdom.

 

This Buddha and I
Share an instant on the porch;
Me? I'm the shadow.

 

Haloed by the sun,
The goat stands like a statue;
Then munches again.

How green is the moss
When the ground around is brown--
Autumn fickleness.

 

Up the hill they trudge--
Sunday perambulation:
Men, women, dogs, kids.

 Not all dead leaves fall:
Many hang on stubbornly,
Outlasting the wind.

 

All's Geometry

Through my front window--
A house that doesn't exist;
Where did it come from?

A single dry leaf
Lies basking in the bright sun;
Made special by light.

The windows are squares,
Framing parallel porch lines--
All's geometry. 

 
 

On edge of the woods,
Neat pile of cut logs is stacked.
Who's heat will this be?

Former Queen Anne's Lace,
Now, half spider and half plant--
Metamorphosis.

Between mossy rocks,
A patch of flowing sunshine;
(Or is it water?)

Shadows on the lawn,
Extending the slender trees:
Two black dimensions.

A grove of green light:
Evergreens glow in the sun.
Empty road grows warm.

Stop to talk with friend;
Road and journey disappears
Into easy words.

Caverns in the Trees

 It's dark and cold out;
The sun is barely rising.
(I want to stay in.)

 

  

School bus flashes by--
A whoosh and then there's silence.
I will go out now.

 

On the tops of trees,
Painting of orange sunlight.
On the ground-- white frost.

 

The white of winter
Pale in the grassy cold field
Behind evergreen.

 Cave in the old stump,
A dark mysterious hole.
What creatures live there?

 

Caverns in the trees--
How many fairies live there?
Woods are whistling high.

 

The tree stump buddies
Are thinner and transparent.
Even they grow frail.

 

Middle of the road--
Deer stands still as a statue.
We watch each other.