Poems

Available from Lulu Press

Because I Love You

-For my mother

Because I love you—
and wanted you to stay with us—
I decided not to tell you
about our recent mouse infestation.

—

California Grape Harvest

Would that the unimpeded
sun were such a tonic
on the backs of farmers
so strong and well fed.

or

Why are there no migrants
on this glossy postcard
in the hotel gift shop?

—

Another Example of Why English Can Be a Difficult Language to Learn

What one man describes
as decisive and efficient,
his wife might describe as
we never talked about that.

—

What “In Retrospect…” Sounds Like

Put-put-put-put-putting the
CD player on the bottom shelf
(where the kids could reach it)
was a ba-ba-ba-ba-bad idea.

—

Sometimes at Sunrise

Sometimes at sunrise
the clouds in the east are
a wall of mountains.

Today they are covered with
snow and transport me to
Alaska, a place I’ve never been.

I imagine a frozen river nearby
where a boy sits in silence with
his father or uncle, learning
subtle things about ice fishing
and manhood,

in a shack that doesn’t warm them
but keeps the wind at bay.

—

The Cactus in the Dining Room

No one waters
the cactus
in the dining room.

Its proliferation
of new shoots
is a mystery.

Soon
it will need
a bigger pot.

—

Clouds

The way the clouds
are filling the sky today,
I do not understand how anyone
could be at war with anyone.