Light

every time I plug it in

yellow green orange and red
blobs like Jello set hard in
a sturdy Frigidaire

this light reminds me of the day
Dad and I shopped and he
let me choose

Weather Forecast

another winter's day
lived under a feverish haze
accompanied by
copious quantities
of soggy tissues

Tangled Up in Blue

Bob says it ...
keepin' on like the bird that flew

how can it be that he's nearly 70
years
old and
I'm still 17?

Winter, Ever Cold

tree
branch
snaps

blue
sky
shivers

Missing Puppy

I am mindful that she is gone
but my body forgets --
feet avoid the place
where her metal dish sat on the kitchen floor,
fingers reach to scratch her satin-soft ears

nothing's there but me and the empty air

Multi-tasking

tasks spin in my weary mind
each one sharp and pointed

armed with an emery board,
I reach carefully and file
off their edges

Other Voices

warm corner in the pub
on a January full-moon night
poets read
heart-words   constructions
that are clever, twisted, eerily honest

Tom, dead-pan, points a finger at
South America, drones on about
sheets with an actual thread count,
coffee beans of various size and heritage and
how best to grind them
and, as faces around the table
dissolve into helpless tears of laughter,
he teaches how to make a tedious poem
hilarious

three at random

Power of Vision

my young eyes saw

everything

sweet, rainbow-candy

coloured

these old eyes now,

even with glasses,

see only sour grey

Winter Storm

roads rutted salty brown

unintentional curves

veer at

right angles up the hill

all the town vehicles

struggle today

Priorities

no one heard

the old woman's cries

when she got lost

in the suburbs at 3 am, -25C

but they all say

they should have heard

her fingernails

scratching across

car door paint

regardless,

they were all too late

It's Easy But ...

there's a certain energy

required

for

singing

oxygen pushed through

diaphragm

up into vocal chords

issuing joyfully into

grateful airspace

but ya gotta mean it

playing catch-up

-25C morning

tear drop frost
on naked birch
we shiver together
in the cold

What Is Your Problem

customer service
two words, just words
once, just once
how great would it be
to get a SORRY, WE GOOFED
response from someone
you had paid for something
instead of
YOU MUST HAVE DONE SOMETHING WRONG

Words Around a Fire

there's no changing
people

you may be convinced
that you're right

but so are they

Hand Map

Continental liver spots
Sahara desert wrinkles

these are hands that have
travelled

The Long-Time Sweater, Part II

cat purrs contentedly
in her nest of
burgundy yarn

This Sweater Might Take a While

easy, the pattern says:
*P2, K2tog, yo, K2 repeat from *, end P2
then
K2 *P2tog, yo, P2, K2, repeat from *

got all that ... forgotten, though, how
easily distracted I can be
'round here
and I've ripped the darn thing out
twice already

A Gift

out of moist soil in the
Yucca pot
a green shoot

new growth from the roots?

no ....
someone pushed a
garlic bud in there
at Christmas time

Winter's Back

white-icing sugar clouds
weep powdery tears

I've cleared the car off
three times today

Defeat

teenage hockey stars
melt-down against
exuberant Russians

Canada settles for silver

A Bird in Winter

Pileated Woodpecker

glides above my head

white under-feathers bright

he lands on a birch branch

bends to listen

there are no bugs

he swoops off into the forest

still searching for lunch

RIP Briezel Pugh

her years of
bounce, barks and licks,
and unconditional love
lie heart-stilled
in a cardboard box

there's a hole in our world today

Sick Puppy

our old dog
wheezes and pants

wrapped in a blanket
she'll be seeing the vet soon

Things That Come in Sleep

life is a strand
of yarn
unraveled

in sleep,
whisper thin threads
electrically attract
and fires begin to burn

memory
sputters, crackles
and turns to ash

Twisted Weather

December snow

melted by

January rain

the new year begins with

drip, drip, drip