National Poetry Writing Month- Day 30

lichen on tree trunk

liken to silver dollars

grandfather's nest egg 

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 29

pollen season drops 

earlier, stronger, longer

Tuck in, Humming Bird

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 28

Too Million Things Due 

Bob Ross soothes white over blue

happy little cloud

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 27

week reruns last weeks

Bob Ross soothes green over gray

happy little tree

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 26

wintery mix hits

rain then snow then hail ping car

new normal April 

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 25

children run the streets

hunting alleycats' shadows

their coats uncared for

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 24

He was Grateful Dead tie-dyed

wavy white haired

spouting biodiversity benefits

excluding your lawn care, which turned him

olive fatigues

close-crop top cut

military-grade tape measurer

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 23

Birding as a competition

who didn't buy a new hobby this year

engage in safe at home activities?

2 shots later though, she's ready to shove

off from the nest, grow her life list in the

world beyond her private backyard feeder

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 22

Grandma's Birthday Lunch

The day before he decided

told his supervisor he was taking the day

Bought a dozen red roses: a statement

she had raised him

Made the near drive down the highway

a ways

Flowers riding beside him

simply asserting their presence 

He surprised her; spent the day with her

she had made it to 88

Family crossed the threshold in out all day

she had raised them

She could have whatever she wanted

for lunch he would cook for her for once

She grinned; requested pie

He didn't think it was the dementia confusing

Celebrating with cherries and roses

a momentous statement

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 21

When we come back together, let's compare isolation notes

What we missed the most outside our walls

What we forgot to pack and needed fiercely

When we reconnect. let's braid each others new hair length

Weave bridges to what was and what prevails

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 20

Two blackbirds gliding to cedar tree, disappearing behind bough 

Unsteadily, a branch bobs under the weight of their momentum

I continue my sets of abdominal crunch repetitions

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 19

fumbling for a mask

she is twenty yards from us

her fear knows no bounds

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 18

A Heart For The Appealing

Large, exuberant creatures compel humans to care

so said the conservationist

Tigers and whales and their ilk

exerting power that induces rescuing instincts

We saviors are not tigers and whales

We do not live among the large and exuberant

We are neither tigers nor whales. Not elephants nor rhinos

We do not live among the hippos and lions of this world

We do not conserve the Dodo: large, stupid, disabled

used to settle sailors weary of endless ocean sunsets

Maybe we could learn to love the large and excessive

as well as the tiny and timid if we had a change of heart

Then obsolete and disposable could become evokers of our compassion

as they roar down the street, pine-tree shaped air fresheners flapping

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 17

 By the Glow of the Gone-To-Seed Weeds

Startled, then shaky laugh when

alien orbs hovering at ground level in

vacant lot's midnight haze revert into 

dandelion puffs imitating the full moon

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 16

Humus

Pleased with the gardening of others

evidence of those who rented before

burying bulbs

planting perennials

tulips, daffodils, ferns, trillium

I could rake around them

pile leaves for curbside removal

I won't because

I prefer to grow soil

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 15

Sleeping In 

You are warm like snowball cookies

left on the counter to cool

unlike fresh from the over hot

you won't cause powdered sugar to melt

instead of an indistinct glaze

the powder retains its shape

most of it sticking to cookies

some dusting off surfaces

I am the powdered sugar

aligning my body towards warmth

shifting closer gently with a light pressure

drifting off to your side

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 14

attending to Now

focus radiates through chest

shoulders ease off ears

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 13

boiler vibrating

sounds like something could explode

neighbor's chimes clamor

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 12

racing mind downshifts

loving-kindness settles in

calm proliferates

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 11

Pollen rained off car

Tree tips sprout tiny pom-poms

Western drought worsens

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 10

noon siren test blares

warmer weather grows more cells

neighbor plants pansies 

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 9

shedding winter coats

deer streak past neighborhood homes

i layer lightly

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 8

gravesite depression

mossy headstone sinks sideways

lawn like putting green

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 7

priest tending garden

lackadaisical spading

church will soon shutter

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 6

black and white backhoe

carrying house to dumpster

abandoned no more 

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 5

wasp walking window

planning her home construction

this H.O.A. frowns

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 4

 Dad's Big Breakfast

It begins raw

offering of appeasement

sausage, bacon, ham

cheese, eggs, hash

on a picnic table cleared of new snow

cooking on a camp stove

wearing gloves, his black down vest

outside our family tent

June in Yellowstone

we had not anticipated winter

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 3

dreamed of my smile

a dreamy smile

it's been a while

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 2

 Maundy Thursday, April 1, 2021

"I'm dead," you said as Jesus
matter-of-factly, slightly chipper
like a dieter announcing the loss of another pound
"April Fools!" drawled out to three times its natural length

Your Christ is a bunny, hopping hide-n-seek

in/out of his rock-hewn tomb
My Resurrection is an exclamation point 

marking the end of a torturous sentence

Gratitude for laughing at our dichotomies with me

National Poetry Writing Month- Day 1

 Light-Headed

sweating side-effects
sensationless injection
swooning over next