ON THE BEACH

Photo by S. Auberle

five Monarchs
one Mourning Cloak

elegant terns
on the wing

three white
German Shepherds

Maya, Beau
and Cirrus--like

the clouds
owner says

one fish skeleton
alewives

lovers
smokers

Frisbee tossers
green smelly stuff

corpse of cormorant
and gull

fly-covered bodies
buzzing

in the heat
invasive zebra

mussel shells
under bare feet

ouch

WHAT IS HAPPINESS

Photo by S. Auberle

drinking jasmine
flower tea
this summer morning
with you...
how can i keep
from breaking
into blossom?

BEING A POET

On the State Park Poetry Trail

BEING A POET

I place words
on a page,
dance with them,
pray with them,
coax them
to cross the border
between your heart
and mine...

EVENSONG

Photo by S. Auberle

EVENSONG

...when the night surrounded me I was reborn.

I was the owner of my own darkness.

~  Pablo Neruda

when the white pine

lifts its arms, beseeching

a first star to appear

when one gull calls

from the indigo sky

as you read Neruda to me

when poppies are nodding

heavy heads and crickets serenade

suddenly a moth careens

toward the light of us

buzzing    beating

darkness riding its dusty wings...

it could be an angel

in clumsy disguise or

just an awkward soul

like us

stumbling along

toward enlightenment