"Fireflies" And these are my vices: impatience, bad temper, wine, the more than occasional cigarette, an almost unquenchable thirst to be kissed, a hunger that isn't hunger but something like fear, a staunching of dread and a taste for bitter gossip of those who've wronged me—for bitterness— and flirting... » read this article

Starlings in Winter Chunky and noisy, but with stars in their black feathers, they spring from the telephone wire and instantly they are acrobats in the freezing wind. And now, in the theater of air, they swing over buildings, dipping and rising; they float like one stippled star that opens,... » read this article

Working in the Rain My father loved more than anything to work outside in wet weather. Beginning at daylight he'd go out in dripping brush to mow or pull weeds for hog and chickens. First his shoulders got damp and the drops from his hat ran down his back. When... » read this article

The First Artichoke Though everyone said no one could grow artichokes in New Jersey, my father planted the seeds and they grew one magnificent artichoke, late-season, long after the squash, tomatoes, and zucchini. It was the derelict in my father's garden, little Buddha of a vegetable, pinecone gone awry. It... » read this article

Water Table It is on dry sunny days like this one that I find myself thinking about the enormous body of water that lies under this house, cool, unseen reservoir, silent except for the sounds of dripping and the incalculable shifting of all the heavy darkness that it holds. This... » read this article

  THE MAPLE TREE The maple tree that night without a wind or rain let go its leaves because its time had come. Brown veined, spotted, like old hands, fluttering in blessing, they fell upon my head and shoulders, and then down to the quiet at my feet. I stood,... » read this article

"If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. "   - William Blake   Global warming: It's all about Mother Nature Nothing but a hot flash Comes with the "change of life". Sure Her skin crawls She'll be okay when the moon... » read this article

Indian Summer          The warm winds of yesterday have cast a play of winter shadows       over deep autumn ground. Yet within my orchard garden Chinese roses still fountain to where they garland       the golden apples. Flowers in shades of red remain to design the flight       of... » read this article

Haiku for your autumn Come, lie in this stream-- all the sun of summer gone is within its flow Autumn . . . the path now wanders to oblivion under every tree Even while squatting the puppy diverts herself by smelling flowers City loneliness . . . dancing with a... » read this article

Selections 1983, 2004  Deep within the stream the huge fish lie motionless facing the current On nearing the surf every footprint becomes that of the sea   Two flies, so small it's a wonder they ever met, are mating on this rose Within this hollow seed and all the time... » read this article

Little Cottage Little cottage in Garrett Woods hiding inside the trees, smoke escaping from a chimney, Warming from a deep freeze ... water nearby ... deer feeding, Wind joins in, and the dancing of a limb, Rain trickles down as tears from above. Surrounding little cottage, with nothing but love... » read this article

West Texas Sunset From dust, to dust of withered green surrendered to wind and heat and cold to gray horizon. Heat, light, energy, being - dim, dying whispers of life in spreading darkness. Nothing given.  Nothing, for anything, offered. No exchange of light for light, Nor any return, for my... » read this article

Hauling Water, Hauling Firewood Where I'm headed, this mountain's home if only for the moment, but what isn't? Pick-up roars in low gear, Kingston Trio wailing, the road wet with hail from a few minutes ago, small stones pitched down by sky in a rush. Rustic is real-- food, fire,... » read this article