Late Winter

[Norma photo]


What withdraws and
Rises new on old
Stock conserves,
Keeps all life informed.
Laws alloyed in
Living rock as
A planet warmed
Drew in crags and
Curves each involuted
Fall, division,
Everything upon
An improbable
Idea, spring.

Entrance, Two Definitions

[Norma photo]

Friendly under rains,
Wet garden won't
Get on you like a
Wet dog will
But it wants
To, and what
It wants to do obtains.

Vine And Ladder

Norma garden photo]

In noise, eternity
Unnoticed slips into
Harmony, friendship,
You --you know that.
We get through, begin
Over and over
Again, survive,
Discover, thrive.
I know that.
We're alive, just
That, not saints.
One of us needs paint.

Season's Greeting

O Mannequin, o Mannequin,
Dein Kleid will mich was lehren:
Die Hoffnung und Beständigkeit
Gibt Mut und Kraft zu jeder Zeit!
O Mannequin , o Mannequin ,
Dein Kleid will mich was lehren!

Kitchen Porch Repairs

[Norma photo]

Replacing purlins, posts,
Where rot appears most,
One climbs onto a house's
Heart from here with tools
And tapes, embraced
Finally by weathered bones
Where the world chews.
One reviews foxing soffits,
Neglect and all distraction
From its purpose --
To protect, to protect
Where life goes.
It holds onto one until
The job is done.

Random Effect

After showering, I
Put on clean underpants
And found one of
Her socks inside them.
Chance, yes, a random
Effect of tumble-dry,
Yet, after forty-one
Years, it still
Makes me happy.

Don't Look Up

[Norma photo]
It's not only signs
And portents; we
Need to know when
Something, even
Something remarkable,
Means nothing.
Recovery is not always
Restoring what one has been.
It is always discovery
Of what one can be.
Heavens may open,
Angels flock clouds and
Armageddon ring.
Leave me alone, I'm
Fixing something.