I woke before dawn in an echo/ Of sleep, the owl outside my window called/ Softly, a word, again,/ A

Enough— I think, letting the too full watering can bob in the barrel/ before lifting it up & slogging it to the

opened windows & slipped piano keys/ into the city’s mouth, regurgitating/ a sickly childhood sonatina

During a season/ of black sycamores/ Bare feet crackling earth/ As his zipper clasps/ In its shadows/ I relearn

An hour of joy, an ounce of sorrow./ This monumental moment, in part and in whole./ I’m being touched by

You exist in a haze,/ in that tepid nook between/ spring and summer, between/ fragile light and heady warmth.

an old dirt road/ shade trees grown tall/ on either side of the/ one lane bridge/ over calm, still water/ warm

pause to reflect,/ pluck the words/ from the universe,/ string them together/ like ducklings behind their

The Four Winds that whistle/ Each direction that they go/ Overwhelming as they trample

For a year I did nothing but collect –/ beech pods, pine cones, maple wings, ash keys,/ prickly burrs, husked

When they enter the studio,/ the dancers drop their bags/ by the wall mirrors// so as they stretch it looks

If God with one breath/ molded me out of rib and clay/ into a mother among the gladioli,/ though a paler

on friday evenings,/ we toss away our salads, do away with our chores, take days off the gym, and run away./ we

the denim legs of a novice hunter/ the cloudless sky, godlike, almost a future/ green, in thickets,/ the air foggy

The soundless sky/ speaks loudest;/ the silent moon/ meanders over marsh/ and into sky./ Helen hears in violet

The summer lilac has been called/ a noxious weed a hundred years;/ and this one in the garden section

The morning light/ sweeps particles of shadow/ over neglected corners// Outside my window, gathering

the magic of poetry, the metaphor/ of its language , either familiarises/ the unfamiliar or makes the familiar

I finish surrendering,/ and I am asked to surrender more.// I drink black coffee.// The beadwork has worn from

broad bands of lightning shudder/ across the midnight/ thunder grumbles from the north/ & again a