snails are rare here they were everywhere in southern california especially after a good rain they'd exit flower beds and rock gardens meet up on the sidewalk to discuss the imminent end of the world here it is slugs banana, leopard, dark black ones like oozing wet chocolate caramels i find a snail on the driveway solitary carrying his refuge his defenses on his back or maybe his burden is light he takes a trip to the grass just in case the robins are interested in entertaining a guest at breakfast i look for him later but I do not see him a trail of glistening nail snot he has taken his house and moved on without so much as a "for sale" sign
Tag: home
natural deselection (20200914)
the abandoned white bicycle
beneath the hemlock tree
in the blackberry bramble
a single baby bootie
the forest is eating children
carols (20161220)
christmas carols play on the radio
a classical station
so i don’t get to
hear any bing, frank, mel, or elvis
one wall separates my office
from the garage
allowing me to hear
the washing machine draining
the dryer spinning
tossing clothes on the eco-cycle
i lower my head
to the desk
and strain to hear
domestic music
but it’s all horns
and violins
and the dog obsessively
cleaning his paw
Poem 20150524
the sky is blue
but it’s not the same blue
and the clouds are high
but not as high
or as white
and the air is cold
but not as thin or dry
and sits heavy in the lungs
already
the day is filled
with going and doing
and not enough being
one walk
one attempt to sustain
has us finding a lizard
carelessly killed
and grieved only by
the mourning of doves
the buzzing of insects
and the two of us
placing him in the shade
so that he won’t be hit again
i wonder how different here
can be from there
where signs warn
not to step on cryptobiotic soil
and here the lizard
with his beautiful blue stomach
couldn’t move fast enough
in a world moving much too fast