Four Poems

Practice


When you come in the back door

I’m petting my saxophone


With intensity and care.

I thought it was relative


to something else. I thought

you’d be home later.

Note to Self


Just over there

is the Purple Noose.

But please,

don’t touch.

I've spent so long perfecting

the Purple Noose.

Each time I adjust it

I'm a different person.

Geode


First you must travel

deep into the catacombs


of your own mind.

Next you must find a way to operate


the idea smashing device.

What’s left of the day is yours


to spend as you like.

You can do whatever you want.


I recommend you take a walk at dusk.

I always go for walks at dusk


to clear my head.

The other day, I had a thought,


We’re all just bones

floating in the air!

Bone Mountain


Months pass.

Nothing happens.

Snowfall on Bone Mountain.

A fox hunts a shadow.

A hawk smacks

into the crystal

surface of the river.

Then one day

the sound of children

playing the coin game

in the glade.

The moon emerges

in a threadbare robe

and looks at its face

in a puddle of snowmelt.

Lantern Maker stops by

with some wine

and a few bawdy jokes.

When night falls

Lantern Maker dozes off

and the Moon takes out its lute

and sings a sad song

about going to work.

Someday a poet

will write about all this.

Another mistake.