cleverness

one wayward iris
with its stem awry . . .
I reread
the scribbled comments
in my high school yearbook

~cattails 3: Sept. 2014

trying to free
a flailing black snake
entangled
in yards of bird netting . . .
the snarls of my karma

~cattails 3: Sept. 2014

sell your cleverness
and buy bewilderment—
midnight
finds me rapping
on the pawnshop door

~Bright Stars 6, Fall 2014

(Quotation in lines 1 & 2 is from Rumi)