Kate

|
a massive stroke
the last leaf of autumn
takes forever to fall

the artist

|
tonight at dusk
a god will paint the sky
with watercolours

The dialectic of beauty.

|
Some are beautiful
only when they are awake.
And vice versa.

window shopping

|
in a shop window
I spy an anxious clumsy youth
and a grown man

deceit

|
feet up, head back
she waits for an answer
knuckles white

pine box

|
in summer
in a pine box in the city
grows a pine

never not young

|
night bus,
an old couple, eyes wrinkled
only for each other

a bus ride

|
afternoon rush
hair on a strangers neck
unbound

zephyr

|
a zephyr
wakes me from my nap ‒
a passing dove

To whom it may concern

|
everything I
know about you
is in a book
that I keep
in my head

the club

|
at the club they dance
he in front of everybody
she alone

hunters

|
snowy pines
white wolves hunting ‒
in his beard

cover

|
december snow -
the black cat is hunting
for a place to go

blackbird

|
cutting winter fuel
the half-remembered blackbird —
his father's voice

veteran

|
muffled and cloaked
the soldier leans on his cane
to hear the debate
rested he leaves on the wind
a plague on both their houses

discovery

|
bathed in sweat
the boy learns a secret
known to all

butterfly bridge

|
between black bricks
rooted in mortar
a buddleia blooms

letter box

|
put away my pen —
a masterful seduction
for the letter box

the choice

|
winter storm —
the old man decides
to lie down

an impertinent boy

|
sun follows rain
the fresh mud
drying hard
her pretty smile
at his suggestion

on learning to pass

|
You people scare me,
with your secret silent rules.
But I have a brain.
I will analyze your ways.
I will pass for one of you.

on living up to a memory

|
morning chill
my late father watches
as I shave

undone

|
as she sleeps
watching her breath on the cold air
I am undone

she looks away

|
the twittering flock
silent for a moment
she looks away and smiles

secret desire

|
busy little bee —
his secret desire
to watch her sleep

on unjustified expectations

|
this worldly innocent.
flighty and indecisive —
she will be his rock

on a new friend

|
Six a.m.
and still we two sit
just talking
of how we should not
sit talking all night.