Pilgrimage: No.19: The Office Next Door

no one writes poems
or novels in cafés
the office travels
endless cups of coffee
fuel law school prep
or business charts
bent over computers
faces intent
on tomorrow
no time to savor today

Pilgrimage #19 Heavy Rain

Post Second Coming, I am told the animals

were to be left to fend for themselves

in the world of streets flooding and

tornadoes, horses skittering up through

plates of earth broken like promises

to our guard dogs and to our teens

screaming to push off from parents or

to find them; their rafts all that would

remain as we rock and roll toward heaven

without feline or fish. This ground level

movie reel interrupted indefinitely

by heavy rain.

Pilgrimage: #18: Digging

an earthy smell
but no skunk to be seen
crumbling pavement
rough
uneven
then
the orange backhoe
stationary
still
against the green hill
they are cutting
the eucalyptus grove
down

Pilgrimage #18: Lincoln County Keepsake

Wind or ghost above us

Roof of one thousand shingles

My eye goes to the chimney

as keepsake

Tangle of arbor in miniature

I will rest against green

cuddle in sepia,

flag rusty red brick

Frontier store now bedding place

on this getaway street

Pilgrimage: #17: Midas

there is a language
of flowers
women wore hoop skirts
carried fans
knew the touch of satin
looked at leaves through
net or silk
a language I do not speak
I just behold
the rose

Pilgrimage #17: Eyes in the Sky

On watch under wire
this sentinal above us

Far as the eye, I can
hardly see as Spring

blows her cotton

down. It puddles at

corners & in garages. Alights

in our eyes looking
skyward, drowned.

Pilgrimage: #16 Chariots of Air

Yesterday we drove into valley heat

My teenage companions squirmed

in their seats, exclaiming

we miss winter already.

In these chariots of recycled air

conditioned to glide

we roll our windows down instead and

simply pretend to fly through moist air.

Pilgrimage: Day 16: The Snow

petals falling from cheery trees
drift to the curb
softly like snow on a soft day
pink blush against gray
fading gently
beneath the implacable sun