Artemis

After the rocket 
the moon cautiously 
peeking out

Three Baroque Allegories

Wishing it were me 
Poetry was looking at 
like that

Musical Fame 
fingering 
her violin 

Meditation’s dress
fraying where she rests 
her elbow

Vacancy

Estate sale 
the birdcage door 
ajar

Five Haiku

Desert highway 
not stopping for a cactus 
with its arm out

Spring breeze 
the wildflowers 
agreeing with it 

Public library 
even the thunder 
quieter here 

Occult bookshop
the crystals casting 
rainbows

Slate gray sky
hard 
to write on

Four Haiku

Behind the old 
telephone poles — the trees 
whispering

Dusk 
birds becoming 
crickets 

After painting
a galaxy unto 
myself 

The library at night 
all of the authors 
anonymous 

Air and Space

Old bomber 
everyone looking 
up 

Blackbird 
absorbing 
its surroundings 

Unbroken 
Mustang — the saddle 
empty

Dragonfly 
landing
on a boy’s hand
 

The Spoils

After winter rain 
the puddles that remain
divvying up the sky  

Museum Pieces

Jupiter struck
in bronze — the thunderbolt 
long gone 

Aphrodite’s hands
always so full 
of herself 
 
The eyes 
in the Secutor’s helmet 
still wide 

Dionysus 
his grapes 
intact

Long Distance

Playing telephone 
my son holding his hand 
in a different shape 

False Advertising

The raven 
on my Poe Museum highball 
flitting 

Sheep’s Clothing

Stray clouds 
somewhere a propeller 
growling

Tribute

After Bob Weir died 
the crickets playing long
into the night

Spelling Bee

The eraser 
on my number two pencil 
as I write this 

Graffiti

Windy afternoon — 
the sun’s reflection writing 
something on the wall

Metamorphosis

Old copy 
of Kafka — a bug 
inside