I'm no Richard Henry Dana or Hafez-e Shirazi

Two poops at the flag
Stop. Squat. Grab. Wrap. Knot. Repeat.
Ghazals in the bag.

Evening Walks

Moon and Venus glow
above the fading sunset
Saturn joins the dance

bats fly crooked paths
across the fading twilight
eating mosquitoes

a blue bowl upturned
with jagged orange edges
filled with evening light

white lights sliding down
across the distant mountain
red lights going up

walking in the dark
a million twinkling stars shine
one fell from the sky

rustle in the grass
bounding, running away fast
Shadow smells a deer

beat

it warms my heart to see
light play on the slatted shade
straight sun blinds, they said

Sing We the Leis of Old

not bouquets of words
we toss twisted little wreaths
nosegays in stern foam

Morning Walks

we cross the wetland
climb up to the fork and choose
which way to go first

red wing blackbirds trill
when my dog walks on the road
ducks fly from water

maybe we go right
enjoy the early dawn
walk home in the shade

sometimes we go left
taking the shady way first
then towards the bright sun

angry barking dog
protecting territory
greeting us daily

Neighbors' bumper stickers

"Smile, Jesus loves you."
"I do not like your Christians."
Who lives above you?

karma holiday

gratification
isn't instant as karma is
work isn't vacation

ask why not

the trail a blank sheet
no one riding here but me
and my excuses

Under cover

Sisal Borsalino,
A baseball cap, a kippah,
Reveal what we know

Apple, strawberry,
Cloying semitoxic plume
Trails her, makes me sneeze

The Livin' Is Easy

Ch, ch, ch, ch, bzzz
Sprinklers chatter, hiss, and turn
Making bees dizzy

practicing

the new day dawns still
empty and we breathe until
we have had our fill