November 2024
Bio Note: Arizona has been home for me since the late 1970s. The landscape and wildlife of the Southwest made their way into my painting and writing lives over the years and dominate a new book, Dreams the Stones Have from The Bitter Oleander Press.
Tonight
Jasmine outside an open window, a radio
plays quietly inside it. Half asleep, a dream
gets up to wander
through the house and check the time.
It’s a quarter to worry with happiness due
to rise at sunrise o’clock. The furniture is fast
asleep, only the kitchen clock
stays awake to guard
against doubt. It is the hour
public discourse is replaced by private thoughts
and questions that
for centuries have gone unanswered
become the sweet scent
of the moment while
the bright and holy moon
shines down on unbelievers.
A Bible Found in the Desert
Whose name on the first page, whose
name on the last? Another
desert secret lies beneath two rocks
which press the cover down
and hold the volume
immoveable. Of human placement
or divine? Nothing to say
who was here beside the animals who leave tracks.
Plastic leather binding, positioned well
away from where the trail dips and climbs
back within sight of the sun.
Why not an encyclopedia or
a scientific work addressing ecology
in lands of little rain?
Perhaps someone intended to direct
coyotes toward faith
but they only read the stars.
Dark night, small print,
scent of old paper,
another summer turns the page
with lightning for a bookmark.
Migration
Hot beyond a summer’s reach
the days climb up on mountain trails
to where the ridgeline eases
free of gravity. The traffic’s heading breathless
home, minutes melting
underneath the wheels. Sun streaks
on the downslope and the mountain
doesn’t understand
why heat is dancing in the foothills.
Lost mail in flight, September
left no forwarding address,
rocks alone know how
to inhale heat and rest at night
when birds in migration
fly past the burn marks on the moon.
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to say what it is about the poem you like. Writing to the author is important to community building at Verse Virtual. -JL