Requited

Lying on its side,
An empty watering can
Tinkles in the rain. 

Olympia

Her gaze will never fall. 
Her lips will never fail
To be that pink and full. 
No hand will ever foul
Her flesh. No prudish fool
Will ever make her feel
Ashamed. She’ll never furl 
The sheets, or seek to foil 
Your view. So as you file
Before her, be sure to look your fill. 

Quantum Theory

The targets in the pavement 
Appear after the drops, 
So that each tiny bomb of water 
Always strikes the spot 

That it intended to; 
And since they now did not 
Fall somewhere else, it’s hard tell 
If they ever had the option. 

Some Trees

In summer, they have a thousand mouths, 
Which make a muffled din 
When the leafy jaws go up and down 
As they masticate the wind. 

In autumn, all their teeth fall out; 
In winter, they gum the snow; 
In spring, they shout with newborn sprouts 
And suck the sunlight’s glow.

Roadside Graveyard

I was stuck in rush hour traffic, 
Staring idly out the window 
At the moss-covered headstones
Huddled together 
Behind a rusty chain-link fence, 
When one of the children 
Wondered aloud
Where everyone was going.  

Hail Mary

I pull the pin and pitch
The crystal hand grenade
Of liquid past my lips,
And close my eyes and wait

For the little bomb to hit
The bottom in belated
Explosions of warm bliss,
And blow me back to date.

Shapeshifter

Prehistoric prototype 
Of cloudy crystal balls. 
Silver apple, overripe 
And aching for the fall. 

Keyhole in the door of night. 
Glass in which the sun
Combs it’s locks of golden light, 
Belinda-like, till dawn. 

Will-o’-the-wisp, enticing poor
Lost travelers to try 
To warm their waning hopes at your 
Pale fire, to watch them die. 

Nightlight for a frightened child. 
Wheel of aging cheese. 
Cheshire cat’s narcotic smile, 
Beaming pointlessly.