Not far and none too deep

Not far and none too deep

Water in just one hand

Tangent touching with time

Stars and the grains of sand

Remembrances and dreams

Tree rings and ripened fruit

Baby steps and broad thoughts

Maintenance and pursuit

Self-taught and still learning

Self-taught and still learning 

Pinned by a world flooding

Survival or power

Scraping or bath blooding

All rushing in beneath

The stillness of night sky

Here on a narrow ledge 

Studying to get by

Purchasing time with self

Purchasing time with self

A loss to just maintain 

Like a tablecloth with

A hole from scissored stain

A price for a fraction

A partial to survive

Not one-hundred percent

I’m near to ninety-five

Directly overhead

Directly overhead

A great blue heron flies

Intent on making rounds

Here I am by surprise 

For this moment briefly

Out of my corner space

A tourist of living

Concord and not rat race

Fine memories of the

Fine memories of the

Afternoon we wasted

Not realizing it was

The Grand Life we tasted

An ephemeral page

The ink hasn’t faded

The Our Town nothing day

Submerged and not waded

Rain check my destiny

Rain check my destiny

The peonies in bloom

An artist’s yellow is

Contrasting sense of doom

Blank pages of storm clouds

Are somewhere framed in blue

Living life in margins

With questions, comments, clue

Gray clouds in my pockets

Gray clouds in my pockets

Early frost on my heart

The race already won

Me here at my false start

Autumn meant for autumn

Not in the month of May

Tulips and not asters

Orchard grass and not hay

Early definitions

Early definitions 

No longer defining

Not like wisteria

Stronger as it’s vining

Change, a reality

Allowing much to go

But throw seeds in winter

On top of winter snow

Inch worms are measuring

Inch worms are measuring 

The Earth and all its wide

Just like youth until wings

Take them from side to side

Water forgets as we

Wade in and march in stride

A joyous memory 

That goes out with the tide

Pale dot in pale waters

Pale dot in pale waters

With no awe at first light

Underneath microscopes

Regret of oversight

A hiding octopus

With a sac of black ink

Confusing predators 

It’s poetry and think

Living life on the tuft

Living life on the tuft

Where wind is blowing wheat

Or the updraft between

These buildings on my street

Windows to outer space

How planted we all are

But even a small crest

Is closer to a star

The feathers together

The feathers together

Two clouds traversing sky

Pin cushion flowers pinned

On hillsides passing by

A wake up call sounding

Bird falling nonetheless 

The phoenix is flapping

In ashes with MS

The nursery is gone

The nursery is gone

The swan song lullaby 

The view from a round tree

That reached up for the sky

Yet still far from the stars

Expectations in check

Even clouds are too high

Dreams in a bottleneck 

How many others here

How many others here

The before and after

Unknowns and knowns sharing

The basement to rafter

The journey consumed with

All clatter and clutter

The end resulting in

A silence or flutter

Again the cloud cover

Again the cloud cover

The road winding up hill

This toss away moment

Full racing into nil

Choices looming ahead

The hesitant gavel

The high speed highway or

The slow progress gravel

Edited and revised

Edited and revised

Yesterday is no more

Two plus two equals five

Double down an encore

Truth seeps up through soil and

Will have its day in light

When the pendulum swings

Far left there is no reich

Cradle me crescent moon

Cradle me crescent moon

The North Star is hiding

The Pacific below

It’s hard waves soft tiding

Wandering but not lost

All tomorrows start dark

Like creativity

Find a sunrise or spark