flowers for J.

bought twelve red roses on Valentine day

two dollars per

at the supermarket because

well

now look at ‘em

unlocked revealing

stratums of rubicund petals

layers of meaning untucked saying

well

and here it is

days later

still facing upwards

unbowed

still fresh              still strong           still summer

fanning out from vase in a transcendent expression of

well

love

minus 28

sharp shadows cross yard

sun bejewels bedazzles

snow past cutting edge

quinzees on the prairie

two moondrop knolls of snow

large and small in back yard

and in acrylic

dug out and ready for you to scuttle into dark opening

take a snack and cocoa and light a candle

out of prairie wind

let body heat radiate right to silent snow walls

that layers between you and vast red sunset sky

and skeleton trees

let this live in your painted moonscape of memories

long after the spring sun melts

these houses of parental love 

black cat

crosses          my          path

every    single    day

silent feet on sinewy legs

ready to leap

negative space with

spring green eyes

I’d take a picture but my phone fails

nothing but black

alive in this presence

or absence

for with snow falling soundless

on white winter world

little inky prowl fills

a              furtive                  need

Trump haiku 17

three years is enough

to endure this terrible

unkindness; remove!

psalm XV

we walk through

snow and cold and drive

shoulders convex

on iced street

whiteness drifting

we’ve heard the third

Eroica

time shifting magic

triumph and tragedy in the spirit of

humanity

when in a blink earth shifts

and tires drift and

we gently stop backwards

you are there in the

major and minor

in the hunch

in the drift and shift

in the forte and piano

in the father and son

walkie talkies

I found them on his shelf

in a ziplock

and magic ensued

voices thrown from room

to room

voiced waves transformed

into signals so simple

now unbound by

trick of invention

so that this small boy can whisper delight into my ear

oh to ziplock these cries of delight