Instrumentality

The lost
tambourine left
behind in the clearing,
comes alive in my hands when I
touch it.

September 11th

What day
is this that starts
with birdsong and bright sun?
I'm deafened by hot rain—no end
of tears.

Brave Blood

Today
his daughter's born—
the fallen hero's child.
Brave blood lives on while cowards die
alone.

When I Saw

"Keep her"
My heart tells me.
With her married sisters,
So like them, yet she's all her own.
Keeper!
                            Published in World Haiku Review, August 2001.

                            The five following poems were published in Ku Nouveau, Summer 2001.

Untimely

She was
not shocked by death.
Turns out, she knew for months.
Could we have known, when lilacs were
in bloom?

The Homestead

It stands
in the clearing,
the house that Grandpa built,
its rooms alive with years of joys
and tears.

Friendly Fire

Her eyes
tell me to stop,
but what fool takes a cue?
Too late, I see the anguish in
her eyes.

Dream Chasing

Old dog
sleeps in my chair
his paws up in the air
twitch as he chases rabbits in
his dreams.

Unbidden                                               [Mirror Cinquain]

Woman,
no one asked you
into my world of pain.
I did not want to love again.
Don't go!

I'm glad
you didn't wait for me to ask
you if you could love me.
My joy is that
you came.