Two Haiku

Fat ripe green caterpillar
Arch, expand, squeeze across stones.
The road fell apart. 

When fluffy seed puffs
Toss and spin white stars overhead
The sky blue is thick.

Ode to a georgia o'keefe tree

To know a tree best,

lean your bones and skin

against the sleek round firmness

of burnished charcoal bark.

Touch limbs that reach sky.

Twined twins grow from center cleft

sprouting green sisters and cousins

leaflet babies birthed by wood. 

See the soft animals who

make their hidden home here,

crawling over nubs, chattering in leaves leaving

small bits of fur and feather. 

Utah Morning

Slant rock faces of sandstone kings

become gilded by morning light. 

Silhouettes against blue sky

clothed in robes of dusty ochre 

tucking shadows in crevice pockets. 

The day whispers-

here's a secret, here's a mystery

held within the tiniest pebble

the drop of rain, the swallow's nest

the footprint, the lizard, the raven.

Here's a place where earth creaked,

heaved, squeezed, folded, molded

layer upon layer of mineral sand

varnished smooth by wind fingers

in sculpture tethering a fragile tree.

Here's a place where river glitters. 

Sun stars crown waves

The ethereal entourage dances downstream

where flickery sparks flash, fade and

mercurial water kisses timeless stone.

The Wild Hairdresser

my eyes walk the circles

of her curved bark bumps.

fibrous tree breasts nippled

where small branch babies

once suckled heartwood.

mother, sister strong survivor

long roots reach deep dirt

ringed torso reaches skyward

immoveable but her crown

lifted, blown, rinsed, dried.

winds brush and caress

green leaves and straw nests.

the wild hairdresser is tireless

flinging a red bow to the sky

where it opens wings and flies.

The Night Sounds

I hear you keening in the woods,
two nights, three nights,
plaintive and primal. 

My bed is lit by the light of a laptop.
Your bed is lit by the moon. 

Between us is board and glass
once part of your trees and rock. 
Landscape with locks and windows. 

You are wildness, electric.

I shut my eyes and let your wail enter.
Sound penetrates everything
down to the core.