Blue House
she’d be sitting on the porch
when I walked by and
when I got close enough
she’d smile and wave but
never speak until
I said something first
then I’d make my way over there
leaning against the rail
enjoying the way she kept
pushing her hair back
behind her ears and
how she threw her head
back and opened her mouth
whenever she started to laugh
Burning The Tree
he knows it will take hours to burn it
so he begins in the morning to give himself
plenty of time before night falls
he cut the tree down last fall
after most of it had been
blown down by the wind
the trunk rotten on the inside and
it had been losing limbs for a long time
the way some people lose their hair as they age
after a storm passed through he’d go out and
gather the limbs from the lawn
but now it’s almost gone and
he hears the songs of the birds and
the sound of Johnny Cash playing in his head and
now and then the passing of a car or
the high-pitched squeals of children
out riding their bikes and having fun
What I Saw
what I saw
when I drove past
were his shoes sticking out
from beneath the blue tarp
EMTs waiting next to
the ambulance and
the lawnmower silent
against the tree
where it died
after running out of gas
Bio: I work for the government but don’t like to talk about it. I like getting drunk and writing. I like Fall better than I like Spring. I like it when the tomatoes start getting ripe. I don’t like okra and never did but I could eat lima beans every day of the week.
Some recent poems have appeared in-Abbey, Gutter Eloquence, Underground Voices, Verse Wisconsin and Zygote In My Coffee.
