Category: American Place

These are poems that aim at reflecting something uniquely American in experience. Be it a place. Or a person or an experience. It had to happen somewhere to become something.

Categories
2021 Albuquerque American Place Poems

Assailant One

Assailant One

Perception is not reality
Just ask The Mountain
She is an illusion…

Presenting herself
Like a bear on hind legs
Much grander much
Bigger – A whole lot
More terrifying.

But the mountain lies…
Not One Mountain at all
Many (mini) Mountains
Each requiring its own
Accent.

Each of a scale and
Magnitude to fatigue
The sojourner who seeks
To run his toes through her
Sands.

She is grand, but
Not how she seems
From a distance.
From afar, un-assailable!

Yet, peel away her layers
And you may find a
Passage unto her loving
Bosom.

Categories
2021 Albuquerque American Place Bird Song Poems

Golden Boughs

Bosque

The trees acknowledge me
Nodding their heads
In the breeze

Contrasted pillars
Of black and white
Glowing golden

Packed full of
Black birds
Suddenly silent

Then bursting away
In a tightly packed
School of flight

Growing calls
Of the animals
Preparing for the night

Herons tall
And purple
Pecking their evening meal

As little perfection
Can be found in this world
This moment, one–

Lifts my spirit and
Makes me bound
Giddy as a child called to home.

Categories
2021 American Place Breaking Muse Poems

American Eulogy

American Eulogy - A poem

American EulogyWe weep
We weep
We cry
We seek
Meaning
For our
Reverend
And our lost
So many
So many
We knew
Intimately
Now gone
Now gone
To this
Viral cause
Sisters
Brothers
Fathers
Mothers
Our uncles
Grandmas
Our friends
And lovers
Few have been
Untouched
By this Angel
Of Death
Their flags
They fly
Cross the
Capitol sky
So many
Lights in
Reflections
Tonight
Now tamped
Out and
With our prayers
Take flight
Our river
Of tears
Pour on
Pour on
So many
Great Lives
Cut short
In their stride
We call out
Their names
We share
Their good deeds
A chorus
This mourning
Leaves us
All in need
Let us pray

Categories
2021 Albuquerque American Place Bird Song Poems

Crow

Crow, Crow
Pushy
Scared

Crow, Crow
Every
Where

Some in the garden
Some on the roof

Crow, crow
Sacred
Proof

Categories
2020 American Place Poems

Night B4 Christmas

We used to spend
A lot of time
At Christmas

Making magic
In the dark
Behind the curtain

From whole carrots
Left for reindeer
Turned to shredded Peels

The half drunk
Milk and a belly
Full of cookies

I didn’t need
To eat to
The secrets revealed

In the morning
When they wake to
Find “Santa Came!”

Categories
2020 American Place Poems

Winter’s Day

Winter is here
Mid-
Winter
If you
Live someplace cold

Cold is here
Morning
Ice
Muffin tops
Made of glass

Glass window
Draped
In fog
Glowing
With Christmas colors

Colors everywhere
This time of year
A light
To bring you
Through the dark winter night

Categories
2020 Albuquerque American Place Poems

New Moon The Waning Year All Souls

The full blue moon set
This morning on Hallow’s Day

A Day for Dead
To be remembered

Alters built
For friends and pets
Family, loved ones
These ancestors we’ve kept
In tales of remembrance.

The power of the story
To recall the spirit
Of our cherished gone.

We long
For resurrection!
And within
These brief moments
They are here
— With us.

Categories
2020 Albuquerque American Place Poems

Piles

The withering leaves
Holding on to the green
As they struggle
Laden with
Snow to control
The last moments
Of their living existence
Short the distance
To the ground
Where they will soon
Be piled up
Into fond
Childhood Memories

Categories
2020 Albuquerque American Place Garden Psalms Poems

Don’t Be Late

An orderly disarray —
Recorder singing
Up and down the scale
While the flowers
Of Autumn dance
In the light breeze.
Forget-me-nots
And daisies
Orange marigolds
Red dew cups
Full of bees knees
Tomato, basil
Garlic Please!
Small leaves
Of chard to
Be tossed with
The lard of
A beautiful bacon butt.

Don’t be late for breakfast!

Categories
2020 American Place Poems

Cool Sun

The shadows lay down
In Autum Mornings
Low Southern sun
Not ready to become
Part of the day yet.

Hiding behind mountains
Waiting to crawl back
Into the limelight
Peeking behind the trees at
The end of their summering.

Another, soon to be
Casualty of the fallen
As winter presses her cold
Fingers over
The Earth