starry night
my nieces ask

which blinking airplane
a shooting star.

drunk at the time
i have forgotten

what she wished
what it reminded me of
what i felt

as the darkness
carried it off.

maybe
it will return
as a clue
in a dream.

then i
can make the wish
again

for her.
                        

panic attack!

i focus on the sun’s glow
through ice-covered blossoms
trying to imagine when
they were in full bloom . . .

there was an outdoor concert
at a park’s gazebo. someone
brought along a bubble machine
its orbs drifting with the pink petals
and some white like frost.

mouthing the lyrics
of a favorite song . . .
temptations, cream, the tokens
maybe merle haggard
“If we make it through Decem-”
no no no no no no no no
gotta be the beatles
just not anything from the white album.

lilac phlox were also in bloom
and there was once a black swallowtail
with a tattered wing, trying to keep still
on one bud, trying to relax itself
and enjoy the beats, with the bubbles
and the blossoms, not caring
if it was vulnerable as prey
like it could live a whole human lifetime.