Twenty Seven Miles Away

               
   ... twenty seven miles away

                                        ... snow is falling on the picnic table where we made love fifteen years ago
       
                  ... pumped cold sweet water from a well

 
                                                           ... distance / time ... a river untraversable

    

Among Ponderosa Pines

                                    
                ... tucked into a shoulder of the Rockies / we slept in our car among Ponderosa pines

  ... fell asleep listening to the river

                       ... a night so close you could almost touch the stars ....... I think we were happy then

                                                                                     


My reading of this poem on public radio: https://beta.prx.org/stories/141539

Route 66

                        ... route 66

                                      ... a cemetery ... headstones hidden in grass / a beer joint past closing time 

    ... broken windows / broken doors

                                                                 ... me and jack on a broken road

At Midnight

            ... as though called from my bed / I stand outside ... midnight at my feet

                                                            ... suspended in the mist between two maples / a quarter moon

                            ... an owl somewhere along the river






My reading of this poem on public radio:
https://beta.prx.org/stories/130682


Photograph by Jukka Helnovirta

Seminole Canyon

             ... seminole canyon / JB and I are falling apart

                                                                                     ... night pressed against our backs 
                                                                              
                           ... the cold light of distant stars

Gold Dust

                                          ... he plays dulcimer on city streets / gold dust in his hair

          ... in his eyes perfect wings of being ... swans against a darkening sky

                                             

Ancient Ruins

                                                          ... in autumn sunlight / ancient ruins

                       ... pieces of another life

                                                                                     ... a crow on the branch of an aspen

Moonrise

                                                 ... at dusk Buddy and I are in the meadow 

                   ... we pause / knee deep in moonrise

                                                                                          ... a white owl beneath green pines

Evening Light

                                       ... in saffron robes and sandals 

       ... monks on canyon road

                                                     ... against adobe walls / purple flowers praise the evening light

Under Grape Vines

    
                                         ... Sunday morning under grape vines with my son

    ... a man I raised

                           ... together we turn them to wine

                                                         together we stand among dripping leaves ... late September rain






The photograph is mine.

Canyon Walls

                                                         ... howls leap canyon walls 
               
                       ... fall into jagged silence 
                         
                                                                      ... inside her cupped hand / a bird's last breath