Change

 
                                        ... in the grocery store parking lot / listening to the rain

                 ... Sam Cooke on the radio

                                           ... singing about a tent by a river / change ... that never seems to come

August Nights

           
                                                  ... sneaking out a window where the horses wait 

                                                                                                          ... bridles jingling in dark grass

                           ... blue moon on a dirt road 

                                                         ... the slow ache of an August night






Photograph by Josef Bartuska  (1898-1963)

One Last Dusting

                              ... beneath one last dusting of snow

                                                                                      ... a wild tangle whispering in the cosmos

                  ... longing for the unruliness of late july








The photograph is mine.

Black Bear Wakes

        
                                                                  ... black bear wakes
                                                   
                                          ... I lie still / listen

                                                                        ... all around the cabin tender ferns rise
                                                       



Photograph by Dorian Stretton

In Copper Sunlight

     
                 ... in the little cemetery where we once exchanged vows 

                                           ... Whitman's words / pressed in copper sunlight / still hang in the oak tree

        
                                                               
                                              

At the Boneyard

  
                 ... on Madeline Island we linger at the boneyard 

                             ... a broken lamb / a tilting cross / a little house with window to let the spirit roam
  
     ... among layers of dead leaves ... one stone / the Chippewa

                                                                                                 .......... rain falls on the ferry home




Photograph by Tony Sweet

From the Train Window

                                ... watching from the train window

                                                                         ... face pressed against the cool pane of forgetting

New Arrivals

                                        ... in the snow covered pasture

                        ... spring calves are born

                                                                 ... sandhill cranes announce the new arrivals






Photograph courtesy of Kim Fritzemeier.
http://kimscountyline.blogspot.com/2014/03/flat-aggie-plays-hide-and-seek.html

Spring Arrives

                         ... in the marsh / spring arrives

                                                                              ... wearing a coat of red winged blackbirds






Painting by Andrea Kowch

Blue Water

                                                    ... when too much evening

                         ... turns into too much morning

                                                                                       ... rowboat on blue water

From the Hill

         
                                             ... from the hill above my grandfather's lonely farm
            
                    ... I watch the train pass by
                                               
                                                    ... dream of the flickering sun through an open box car door





Photograph by Edward Steichen

The Seashell

                 ... at the back of my mother's closet / the life she almost had

                                                            ... black sweater / guitar / a suitcase filled with photographs

                                   ... on her sewing stand / a seashell 





Photograph by Josef Sudek

Winter Dream #7

                                   ... winter dream #7: 

                                                             ... in bright sunlight / my sister wears a yoke of flowers

                  ... on each side / pink impatiens

                                             ... she leans into her task / bears the weight of beauty






My reading of this poem as featured on public radio:https://beta.prx.org/stories/143612

The photograph is mine.

The River

                          ... river / ... take me where you will ... I know nothing






Photograph by Montucky: montucky.wordpress.com

Water's Edge

                          ... wanting to get eye to eye with a lady's slipper

       ... we lay beneath the cedar at water's edge

                                                           ... my mouth on damp moss made promises I couldn't keep






Photograph by Montucky: montucky.wordpress.com

Winter Dream #5

                                                    ... winter dream #5:

                                                                                  ... a backwoods bar / deep snow

                                       ... ex lovers in dimly lit windows

                                                                        ... the bear that follows me walks the road