Yesterday


A woman with Alzheimer wandered off
wearing only pink slippers.
The Residents are searching for her
door to door, looking inside my house,
confirming she is not here.
 
Afterwards, I lower a rope ladder for her escape.
She knows what she is doing,
and what will happen to her if they locate her.
 
I hope someday my deeds will reap benefits
but more likely I will be charged as a co-conspirator.
I am already planning my own escape.
My suitcase sighs while waiting.
 


 

Lacking


the low wind current
is not enough for the swift
to glide over the fields
with silent intention
like a monk so focused 
his body lifts one inch
off the ground
before someone breaks his concentration
and he falls like bricks
 
the wind is humorless today
giving no impetus
to change
or possibility of change
so the swift in the barn loft
clenches his wings
as an old man in cold weather
tightens his tattered coat
 
the reason not every monk
cannot lift his body
during resolute silence
is they are lacking focus
and intention to oppose gravity
 
the spirit can lift
what the body cannot ​