Free Verse
Anti-Love Poem
after Grace
Paley
the weather tonight
in a mood most foul
shaking house rafters
slashing windows
with sheets of rain
while we listen
to Gershwin, Rogers & Hart,
Cole Porter—all
fools for love
who could soothe
and twist hearts
in the same song
the Malbec is smooth
the Gouda aged just right
firelight flickers on red walls
warm as you on a night
cold as any in the world
and I want to love you forever
forget the poem I read tonight
turn away from the words
that say turn away
that's all you can do,
old as you are
to save yourself
from love
Beach Music
A tanka Sequence
old man sits alone
a seawall holding his bones
heart hammered in stone
old woman laughs on a bench
the ocean sings beside her
surfers blade the waves
sleek as seals in morning light
they laugh at dying
the next wave will always come
they will always conquer it
wedding by the sea
Annie and Jeff are their names
keep laughter alive
the priest says and blesses them
against whatever may come
the grey dread-locked man
steps out from a pier
sleeping bag held tight
races a laughing seagull
to someone's abandoned lunch
old man and woman
side by side on the sea bench
she touches his stone heart
they laugh at eternity
the next wave will always come
Haiku
morning sunlight
cranes calling outside my door
April symphony
