transient

huge, fluffed flakes in a transient blizzard

flung against the windshield

of my daughter’s car as she gave me her

warm vest to take me home from the hospital

after staying with me for hours when

when i could not find the words to speak

meteorologists had promised again and again

for weeks, but still the snow did not lie or

stay, only promise, threaten and show before

leaving with a taste of disaster to be heeded

domineering

haiku

 enormous full moon

enlarged by haze, man-made smog

dominates night sky

dawn steals the velvet

dawn steals the velvet of night

so slowly claiming sun’s paling

of the sky to silhouette tall pines

and etch distant hills onto the horizon

your part in your imprisonment

feeling helpless feeds

the power of the deceiver

who cares nothing for your pain

moods of early February’s sky

moods of early February’s sky

winter, watercolor sky surrounds

my seventh floor apartment

giving me perspective beyond

residential rooftops now glittering

frost and the west hills of the city

glistening in patches of white

gray-blue demanding that i find

my paints in unopened boxes and

attempt to capture on rough paper

the moods of early February’s sky

and distant, evergreen hills

piercing the sky

 elongated, fluttering arrow point

after arrow point nearly-continuous

flying south in the hundreds

now that western Oregon is convinced

that snow, sleet and ice will soon

overtake this so-far-mild winter

late start but coming

 haiku

chill plus rain tonight

sleet and snow in the offing

January winter

learning to say no

rather than feel

resentment

i need to say no

i am here because i have

needs i can no longer

handle on my own

i have so little left

to help others

i must say no

to what you ask

and even demand

of me, take it

as you will

not like it used to be

snow up to ten inches

in Florida

below freezing but no rain

or snow in western Oregon

bright sunlight sparkling

off Cascade peaks

was weather ever “normal”

or is every season “not

like it used to be when

I was a kid”?

mixed blessing

for ubiquitous service to humanity

electricity’s motors, fans, engines

rightly claim kudos for our comfort

but how much of Nature’s

whispered music is muffled and lost?

for our presumed safety from attack

night lights, streetlights, guard lights

leaks upward toward the night sky

blanching our view of the beauty of stars

our awareness of galaxies, vast distance

and time

purple blanket

disconsolate, dark purple

blanket of cloud even-bottomed

as though sliced by chainsaw

ominous work of man

now grappled in its southeast vulnerability

by sunrise rays of ginger

and burnishing gold

as only mother nature can fling

off night clothes to welcome

the new day

falling

falling in love

falling for a scheme

falling out with a friend

falling on the floor

only the first seems to carry

much promise

of fun outcome

wishing you love

so sorry, so late

red light blinking behind me

i hurried to turn into the garage

to get out of the ambulance’s way

and missed that it stopped

at the doorway of our building

and only learned at supper

that it had come for me friend

who had fallen

how great

like so many of Nature’s gifts

dawn was a quiet and brilliantly

brief display of violet to tangerine

to glorious yellow-white too intense

to allow our eyes to gaze upon

but we feel welling within us

song and words that must break

forth : “How great Thou art!”

among friends

rapid-fire comebacks

teasing to show affection

wit, word-play and love

highlighting Hood

haiku

yellow-orange sunrise

quickly pale gray-gold mat sky

silhouettes Mt. Hood

Depot Bay at high tide

mad, wind-whipped waves cleaved

to foam by jagged lava rock

rammed through clefts, now blowholes

to fountain as towering vertical spray

or thrashed, unable to escape

from between layers of rock,

before the next wave churns the milky foam

into congealed white curds

Taft bay

haiku

photons catch motion

flit brilliance over unseen

ripples in the bay

fog dispersal

haiku

whispers strewn by fog

over mist-swallowed friendships

diffuse understanding

decisions by the elderly

how to know when heart

and head are tangled within

grief guilt and longing