off

picture post cards
to far-off friends
stamped memories

...

arid Texas day
rippling water garden
transforms into thin air

on a walk

stillness
in the air --
one quaking leaf

...

small garden of
wildflowers
in a clay pot

grow

earth, soil,
sun --
green

...

pine bushes
along the side of the street;
pitch on my palms

solstice

days lengthen
before the summer solstice --
then the half-gone year winds down



...

hours that once stretched on
now hurtle by,
too fast to notice

ceremony

on that morning
birds cried as the
heavens opened

...

returning home
after the funeral –
sun rays grace the city

in memoriam

inevitable passage
from this world to the next --
seasons' cycles

- in honor of Domenic Galli, my best friend's
father, who passed away this week.

I will be away until next week.

think

every day
different
every day the same



...

I listen for
the familiar whistle
that just won't come

phases

each day the roses
wilt a little more --
sweet fragrance of decay

...

a dead tree stands
gray
surrounded by fresh blooms

elements

backlit green
of sun-stroked leaves --
rocks in a Japanese garden

...

gently curving arc
of a granite facade
gray clouds in the windows

inspired

about to pen haiku
a fly
inspires me



...

wails and cries
from an exultant choir;
smiles reverberate

meeting/parting

wide-open desert:
East and West collide between
the mountain ranges

...

long orange ridges,
valleys and shadows join and part --
hands at twilight

east

ornamental
kimono, red and gold --
crane's wings flutter in the breeze



...

jet black kanji characters
spell out a world apart --
ten thousand waves

pebbles

pale lamplight glows through
panels of a shoji screen --
afternoon sun fades



...

bamboo fountain
water trickling into a stone bowl --
three white pebbles

spa

at the lily pond,
mottled koi come up for air --
thin orchid shadow

...

roiling spa waters
overflow the cedar tub --
abrupt thunder sounds

mystique

mystical experience
at the wind-whipped ruins --
spirit-filled stones



...

Acoma people:
when the time comes, "re-planted"
in the Mother's womb

speak

proud native peoples
their many tongues pronounced
by an earthen Mother

...

silver Hopi bracelet:
symbols of a river
flowing through dry land