Dental Effort

On the second dish of ice cream
I contemplate the meaning of focus
as it fades in a sugar haze
while my child agonizes
over metal bands on her teeth
and pre-final study overload

(to the comfortable couch for recovery)

I write
and birdsong filters in
green leaves shade a sunset view
if I could take her pain
I would

Knowing When, to Duck

Wooden duck on the porch
knows nothing of rain, or
cares of daily life
stands silently
with watchful look
beside the clock

years pass, unnoticed
until at final quack
of somebody or other
out it goes
unwatching eyes
draw one last bead

Forehead to Hand

The pressure of writing something
half way decent and worth
a few pixels on the screen
So many really, really good writers

The time is maybe better spent
reading
or
listening to the rain

Born That Way

Yes, in fact it is
my birthday
and there are cards
and a book or two
one about cheering up
another has good quotes,
like "Wagner's music is
better than it sounds."
Or this one by Mick Jagger:
"It's alright letting yourself go
as long as you can let yourself back."

Jagger and Wagner...

Monday Notes

What will it be today?
This Monday downbeat
in the rhythm of a week

Traffic, birds, heat of day
calls and emails across
a newly flattened world

Caffeine ever the engine
we take our places
and let 'er rip

Time to Eat

There is something
unmagical
about this moment

Tired, a bit sore
knowledge of the unfinished list
the unsorted mail

A key heart ingredient
got left out of the diet
you aren't what you didn't eat

Zipperology

Keeping it together
interdigit fidget
over lost talons

Slider glides
over polyester coils
unseen

brilliant marriage
of form, function, and
endless simplicity

Up

Can I reach
holding out for somebody
but all need to go

And me
quiet by the door
thoughts unspoken

By the millions
each one knows
which way is up