Impermanence

Impermanence

My morning walk takes me past landmarks no longer there:   Coe Primary, where I attended first and second grade, now offices.   Down the street, third and fourth grade gone. Only a park remains   Last year, May Street School razed, replaced by a brick...
Troubled Sleep

Troubled Sleep

I lie perfectly still, refusing to open my eyes, refusing to roll over struggling with my own thoughts desperate for just another thirty minutes of repose   Outside a bird calls from high in a tree striving to make its song heard above the incessant noise of...
Systems Check

Systems Check

I walk out under a dark blue, faintly luminescent sky The moon, one day past full, shines down on the hot tub My morning routine has become an anti-viral struggle against the pandemic     Systems check: Water clear, thin islands of bubbles, 103 degrees,...
Pterodactyl

Pterodactyl

just above me, huge, silent, missing one secondary feather from the left wing, a heron glides across the pale blue plate-glass dawn

The Kiss of Contagion

You feel the warmth rising, the gentle caress of contagion brushing across your lips. You try to deny it, to push it away. But there is no denying what you feel in your chest, the ache at the back of your throat. It has caught you, and you will not get free. You may...