051120b

If We Were Arthropods


tight
I couldn't
eat another bite

split
backing out
a new man

inflate
sun-dried
wings slowly flap

soar
hunger strikes
flower to flower

shadow
blue jay
is hungry too

091519b

Letting Go

Children shuffle through leaves:

Oak, poplar, maple.

Are the leaves happy to bring joy,

Or do they feel disrespected;

Consigned to the rope-swing landing pile,

At the end of its short shady path;

Do they feel shame at being brought so low,

Or gratitude when it gets cold,

And kids are playing in snow,

Outside the wood, where it lies thick.

Mulch around other plants,

They flutter weakly in the north wind,

Hoping to fly back to their twigs.

051819c

red bird
picks up after finches
cat sneaks in close

051519

snail mucus
trails web the sidewalk
thrush cocks its head

010119b

red bird
keeps tabs on the cat
took a mockingbird
right out of the air
nought but gray and white feathers
settling from the breeze

102717c

What Comes Around

I’m sorry to report

the wildebeest, alas,

has been consumed, it gnu

too much, and tasted good;

the jackal (African,

coyote-ish) (hunger

compelled the savage beast;

it ate all but bones and

tendons) left what it could

not digest, a gift for

bacteria to munch,

some yummy leftovers

to birth a billion babes,

one-celled progeny to

decompose their betters.

092716b

There was a young slug name of Keri
munching a hole in a berry
the berry was plucked
the slug out of luck
icky, she tasted, but very!