Fresh snow—
the child fills the trailer
of her toy truck.
*
Packaging the cold ground meat,
my hand turns numb.
*
Netted tight & stacked
by the American Legion,
the unsold firs.
*
A barn cat by the compost
hisses in defense of eggshells.
*
The creek at dusk:
doves crowd in to drink
from the dark water.
*
Christmas Eve, & sleep’s in short supply
as sleet ticks on the windows.
This is a short renga: each adjacent pair of stanzas can be read as a stand-alone poem.
first sunrise of the year
the orange bellies of the clouds
are blurry with snow
a gray squirrel in estrus trailed
by two slow-motion suitors
in the wind
above the ridge a raven
croaks & somersaults
my first piss of the New Year
I’m especially careful
distant rumble
of a military jet
it’s still the same world
windows rattle with the snoring
of a late-night reveler
I clear the cookies
from my hard drive
avatar’s a question mark now
the grimy washing machine
rocks with a load of laundry
first sunrise of the year
the orange bellies of the clouds
are blurry with snow
__________
See also the New Year Haiku Collaborative Poem Dance at Watermark.
