End of June

it was a setting sail
into a dry ocean
with a fiery course
through windy days
and still nights
dark nights filled
with screaming toads
and owls that longed
for the absent rain
even scavenging canines
yelled for it to return
it was a jumping off
into spicy evenings
when sagebrush sighed
at the end of the day
at the end of the heat
and sunflower musk
stirred in the cooling air
it was the time to
watch gourd vines
wind through the grass
much more slowly
than their serpentine kin
time to spot the devil's claw
holding its silky bloom
behind a cloud of
almost deadly perfume
it was the waiting
between storms rolling
in from the west
for lighting strikes
as threatening and
nerve shaking as
the strike of a rattler
in the tall bluestem
for the rain that
the nightly screams
summoned in the dark

Sky shatter

yellowing of the day
will the sky
break away
to let the dark
seep in
indigo blues gray
in the withering eve
as empress hues
take their leave
then the sky shatters
leaving the gleaming
glass dust
scattered across
the silent abyss
and wonder slowly
turns in spacious spirals
until light seals up
the mystery
behind the blue veil

Lure of leaf

whispering of the green

softly in the breeze

a breath upon the cheek

turning the head with ease

the blades upon the grass

lay down their warring path

calls the maiden trees

softly in the breeze

their melodic siren song

fills the feathery throng

and slips down swaying salix strings

to fill the pool with rings

the music in the air

seems to come from over there

yet when there does become here

the music moves far from near

'tis a dancing deer

as it moves far from near

through the foxfire gloam

when fireflies dare to roam

The well

the well remains

a deep dim reflection

of the sky above

its eye watches

time drag through

the sky above

its wet pupil

waits for more 

moisture to leak

from the sky above

its only holy hope

for existence is

from the sky above

after buckets dip

deeper into the well

and it recedes further

into the cold abyss

and faces who peer

into the eye of the well

have come and gone

passing by to either

heaven or hell

the soulful eye

deep in the ground

still watches its lover

in the sky above

Hope

she draws her dreams

on the sidewalks

for people to tread upon

and the only ones

who gaze into

her imagination

splattered on the pavement

are the bowing sunflowers

at the end of August

the rains carry the pigments​

of her drawn out figments

into the gutters

making way for more

Coin spin

such a busy world

all because they

want what they

don't have already

is that the signal

blaring out from

the molten core

to go and get

there's always

something more

and the more

always has a price

for there is no free

in this blood soaked

earthly economy

just ask the bird

that ate the worm

that ate the leaf

that ate the earth

and the air and sun

the coin spins 

until it's spent

Vizzitor

a fly danced

on the letters

at my fingertips

its moves made

me pause my own

it seemed to

revel in the

oiled keys

as it did 

as it pleased

it came to rest

above the asterisk 

to bathe its wings

and its eyes

then flew off

suddenly

such the way

of flies

Braindrops

a trickle 

from the ears

a sprinkle

from the nose

a light mist

from the eyes

as the storm

within brews

the turning 

twisted thoughts

funnel into 

a verbal downburst

and lays flat

all in the way

with the straight line

windy bellow

out the mouth

thus beware the signs

of braindrops

The bird

blackbird with his

robin blue smile

perched on the eave

of a house no

longer a home

his gluttonous grin

is the bow 

in the roof line

as the sky gleams

off the ocean depths

found in his feathers

his call 

the chill of night

dancing in his

malicious stare

as he writes ​out

his devious deeds

in the air with his beak