A Long Week


Black
White
Brown

Young
Old

Family
Best friend

I've been watching
people being put
into the ground since
I was thirteen years old

But this time
the ground seems
a little harder
and so much colder





One Circle


Family 
strangers
friends
billions
Same song

Seeds
soil
roots
sprouts
Same harvest

Tables
plates
forks
knives
Same hunger 

Sky
Sun
wind
rain
Same season

Chew
taste
swallow
food
eat

In one circle
we all come in need
No one
by himself
No one
alone





Yesterday's Room


Ceiling fan
Spinning slow
Pictures walls stories
Photographs
Smiling faces

Dirty shag carpet
Broken leather chair
Flag-draped couch
Mouse running
Electric heater

Dust clinging to mirror
Stuffed animals stare
Plastic plant
Cold air 
Cookie jar

December long ago
Old blankets
Coats jackets
Broom mop
Books

Dogs barking
Car parking
Four walls
Stained halls
All this keeps us from forgetting





Four Poems on Tuesday


                1

Hour and a half driving
Every day to work
Windshield steering wheel five speeds
I feel every mile

65 dogs in a kennel
Poop piss barking
Silent moments rare
Ears hurt nose burns
But I love this job

                2

On my feet rubber boots
I hate wet socks
Latex gloves on my hands
I hate cracked skin

Small snack
Cold bottle of water
Thirty-second power-nap
I hate taking breaks

                3

In her eyes
I see waves
In her arms 
I feel warm

She is a sunflower
My heart its garden
She is a breeze
My body a flag

                4

Sidewalks cracked
95 degrees on the block
Young ride bikes
Grow old fast

In stuffy room
Take no breath
Outside bake like bread
In California's hell
Where everything burns but nobody tells