happy birthday

born today, Paula
knows old secrets about me
this can't be good

at a minimum
three thousand, six hundred, and
four syllables writ

dem bones

an achey Monday
hands, hip, feet all talk to me
think I'll skip my walk

affection

so happy to be home
head butting against my hand
sir velcro kitty

soft shell

my life is too tight
like a molting sookie, i
need to slough it off

beneath my hard shell
i am eager to expand,
ripe with potential

Monoprix

Sweet old French lady
Haricots verts and whiskey
Just the essentials

wedding

still reflections gleam
the elements merge together
sky and water, one

bill and susan join
disparate, together web
and become one soul

hotel room

the opposite of
a belly-flop, throw myself
backward onto bed

a luxury suite,
romantic setting, alone
with tub and great view

with a crisp white spread
the big bed cries for rumpling
think i'll take a nap

crab feast

three color print job
there's a certain elegance
to the place mats

stu, debra, and i
make jokes and do silly things
with the crustaceans

swooping over road
a pair of bald eagles play
driving from tilghman's

bird tree

miraculous tree
singing it's heart out for me
on hot afternoon

take two steps, birds fly.
two more steps, more birds launched.
tree still sings madly

wednesday walk

horses develop
long necks, not evolution,
but greed for grass

French Alps

Climbing through mountains
the train slows, struggles, feels heavy
just like my eyelids

Morning

Soft rain wakens me
Feel of his dark hair, his want
Lingers from my dream

re-entry

rough reentry
not only back in office
but trip to doctor

departure

exhausted from heat and fun
yet now that it's time to go
i want to stay

skate

slipping silently
a dark skate slides twix beach chairs
shadow of a kite

sunburn

spf 50
you have let me down again
a massive sunburn

riddle: what is black
and white and red all over?
mimi on the beach

dog tired

cool stone feels so good
when you're just too dog-tired
and over heated

ruins

a rickety grin
formed around negative space
makes a happy sky

holding up the cloud
sentry pillars stand proudly
supporting the sky

how did they know?

when erecting this
how did they guess how i'd feel
standing here today?

frozen fiddlehead

an oxymoron
frond frozen, forged of iron
by bright molten flame

cheese!

my smile wound so tight
it takes wings and flies away
to a better place

mossy

beautiful collab
of Quercus and Tillandsia
provides blessed shade

no wind for dancing
yet moss dangles playfully
from ancient branches



one live oak protects
from an unrelenting sun
the treasured dead

Big Ralph

Big Ralph, hot himself,
wends with us through Georgian brick
hot Charleston streets

as storm clouds threaten
Big Ralph persists steadfastly
clopping through the rain

benignant

oh my sweet jesus
yup, made ass of self again.
or why else say that?

an ass, yes indeed,
but a well intended one,
quite harmless, really

travel

droopy eyed loo
smiles wistfully and dreams
of fresh pine forests

intolerable.
heavy, heavy rains provide
heavy traffic jam

anxiously i board
connecting plane to charlotte
for reunion flight

clog

in tributary
island formed of storm wash makes
pond where once stream

morning walk

mud clogs paths and bridge
but hopeful soul made good use
and left us a smile

caught in the gutter
one shoe, drowned racoon, foam mug
remnants of the flood

following my steps—
what is that new squeaking noise?
shoe's coming apart.

ghost

tannin pavement ghost
marks the early death of tree
acorns carry mem'ry

acorns

handfuls of acorns
have fallen slowly, o'er weeks,
in a rush, oaks fell

confused squirrels
gathering acorns where oaks once stood,
now gone from the storms

late bloomer

oh, august firefly
how i know you, late bloomer,
alone in the dusk

storm wrack

at beach, storm tosses
sea glass, octopus, lost shells;
home, tree wrack wash'd up

inland storm wrack caught
at curb and drain and gutter
twigs, leaves, and garbage

street parking

under the curb trees
avoiding birdie ballast
spots left half empty

sharpie

liquid graphite tool
imagine the doodles i
could doodle with you

8/9/10

happy 8/9/10!
a serendipitous date
on the calendar

chipotles with mom

in a paper bowl
corn and rice mingle with lime
et with plastic fork

mom likes hers wrapped
"all the good stuff" encased in
flour tortilla

saturday

dyed chlorophyll green
by uncooperative plants
in tomato search

my sweat gathers in
uncomfortable places
most indiscreetly

sucked juiceless by heat
limp conversation dangles
o'er al dente meal

acid washed

my voice is husky,
my gullet is raw, burned by
many tomatoes

more storms

twice storms tumble sky
wind buffets walls with rain and
gargoyles gurgle

the wet sky, engorged
with leftover stormclouds, yields
fatty pink sunset

morning

unexpected rumble
wakes the cat at 4 am
a new scar forming

frothy latte creek
looking good enough to drink
to pre-coffee addict

tuesday

tuesday, with nothing
special to distinguish it
from any old day

farragut square

a troop of sparrows
lead on point, v spreads behind
winnowing grass

salsa for mom

cherry tomatoes,
jalepeño, garlic, lime,
cilantro, onion

not a "BLT"
but "GLBT" sandwich:
don't forget the guac