[peach blossoms . . .]

peach blossoms

against the slate sky

of her blindness—

she asks

when will they bloom

red lights June 2012

[locked in the curio cabinet . . .]

locked

in the curio cabinet

of my heart . . .

a Dresden shepherdess

still spilling summer flowers

Simply Haiku 10:1, summer 2012

[every summer . . .]

every summer

an orioles’ nest

suspended

at the tip of a branch

my dreams of flying

Simply Haiku 10:1, summer 2012

[goats' eyes . . .]

goats’ eyes

deep marbled spheres

of blue and gold

the cosmos

tugging at my zipper pull

Atlas Poetica 11, March 2012

[caged tigers . . .]

caged tigers

marking territory—

they too

believe the world

belongs to them

Atlas Poetica 11, March 2012

Litany of the Nearly Lost

Listen:  their names

carry news of the places they live:

Tooth Cave spider and Virgin River chub,

Red Hills salamander and Bliss Rapids snail,

Eureka Valley primrose and Lost River sucker.

Maybe once, before they vanish,

they will rise up out of their subterranean

caves, come down from islands

in the sky, leave forest pools and relict

prairies, leaping, swimming, sidling,

soaring, scattering seeds and petals

over the knotted highways

and into the halls of Congress—

the map turtles leading the way.

Tumbling Creek cavesnail.

Kneeland Prairie pennygrass.

Peter’s Mountain mallow.

Delhi Sands flower-loving fly.

Slithering, sliding, crawling, gliding,

let them come, singing with one voice

This land is our land—

Let it not vanish away.

Laguna Mountain skipper. 

Ash Meadows sunray, Salt Creek tiger beetle.

Santa Catalina Island fox.

Written River 3:1, summer 2012

[meeting the eyes . . .]

meeting the eyes

of a captive maned wolf—

sharing

a taste for watermelon,

the prospect of extinction

Atlas Poetica 11,  March 2012