Kumkwatology

2011-01-01T14:40:00.002-05:00

northern afternoon
dusk covered in inky clouds
i'm barely awake

2008-12-07T20:35:00.002-05:00

the snowdrift shadow
the colour of the twilight
lonely nights and days

2008-12-07T20:21:00.002-05:00

halogen orange
in the back of every drift
sad soft blue shadows

2008-12-06T11:56:00.001-05:00

the northern lights
make me want to make
japanese babies

2008-12-05T23:31:00.000-05:00

fat neck, long neck
on her slack wire pendulum
the raven rides

2008-12-04T14:27:00.002-05:00

turning in twilight
toward my name, my name
the unseen raven

2008-03-14T03:23:00.004-04:00

first pussy willow
under last thin snow
everywhere now

cropped up against
the horizon, the curving expanse
of midnight pine

my steaming breathing
measured by the swishing skis
on squeaky snow

the road home, each time
that i find it again,
never quite lost

what is the last time
that it decided not to happen
or was it just now

lynx looks filtered
through trees, and shock
to almost disappear

i accept
any hoar frost
on any branch

2008-01-30T03:11:00.000-05:00

out from the office
another 4 inches
of snow on the car

2008-01-14T02:06:00.000-05:00

a few more moments
of this, the winter air
before i sleep

2008-01-14T02:02:00.000-05:00

golden background glow
floats against the black branches
of our city trees

2008-01-14T01:58:00.000-05:00

i dreamt i was shot -
and never to awaken
from my painless wound

2008-01-14T01:55:00.000-05:00

my footsteps follow -
but are my first ones
fading in the snow?

2008-01-14T01:53:00.000-05:00

another high five
reflected in the patio doors
we, together, inside

2008-01-14T01:50:00.000-05:00

the long cold night
my summer resistance
the winter, submit

2007-12-29T03:17:00.000-05:00

the tin roof drum
as the snow turns to rain
a crescendo

2007-12-28T01:47:00.000-05:00

sparse public forest
with snow gutters leading me
meandering

2007-12-28T01:42:00.000-05:00

under the covers
breathing hard through their voice
hotel lovers

2007-12-28T01:40:00.000-05:00

here the road, your face
with the window reflecting
your face, and the road

2007-12-28T01:38:00.000-05:00

today the snow
sounds the same way
i remember it

2007-12-12T01:50:00.000-05:00

low tide treasures:
the soft, slick, unearthly lure
of your dark tang

2007-12-12T01:42:00.000-05:00

ice shells of puddles
etched with raven feathers,
cold in the moonlight

2007-11-29T00:50:00.000-05:00

tree-arched roadway
after the rain has stopped
still raining

2007-10-22T03:05:00.000-04:00

dancing rock to rock
everything i've lived for
in between the rocks

2007-10-22T03:00:00.000-04:00

my old monkey bars -
swinging down the loamy slope
tree to tree to tree

2007-10-22T02:34:00.000-04:00

faint hope of trail
uncross branches crossed
and follow none

2007-10-21T01:59:00.000-04:00

to imagine sleep
covered up, under covers
green bed of forest

2007-10-16T04:13:00.000-04:00

i walk slowly
the thirty feet of concrete
to and from work

2007-10-15T00:22:00.000-04:00

wings misaligned -
just one way left to fly
october moth

* * *

too cold to fly
so, as i wait for you
the moth waits

* * *

did the frozen moths
think that if no one noticed
they wouldn't be dead?

2007-10-05T03:30:00.000-04:00

yellow poplar trees
i feel a draft
and they shiver

2007-10-05T03:23:00.000-04:00

deep focus to the end
where the canyon's lost
in yellow hills

2007-09-14T12:28:00.000-04:00

my red rust truck
the buyer drives away
kicking up leaves

2007-06-29T03:11:00.000-04:00

six legs but antennae
make eight lines outlined
betwixt my arm hairs

2007-06-29T03:09:00.000-04:00

shush, the undersound
of the city, or the trees
shushing the air

2007-06-29T03:07:00.000-04:00

aliquots of love
the perfect division
of heart and state

2007-06-29T03:04:00.000-04:00

this is how the perfect
human falls, the perfect
fall, the perfect human

2007-06-29T03:01:00.000-04:00

here the branches end
and here again branches begin
oh sky between

2007-06-24T03:47:00.000-04:00

if you can relate
to blooms half-opening
relate to anyone

2007-06-24T03:45:00.000-04:00

as for the dead moth
that i rubbed against my cheek
i guess he's gone now

2007-06-23T01:00:00.000-04:00

faith is two circles
on the tarmac, on a bike
with your eyes closed

2007-06-22T17:01:00.000-04:00

with our prayers
billowing on thy whim
our plastic bags

2007-06-22T16:53:00.000-04:00

hop into my curry
oh little summer bug -
without hesitation...

2007-06-17T23:44:00.000-04:00

you are so brief -
i've never understood
half a sunset

2007-06-17T23:38:00.000-04:00

i am growing old
a frayed loop of tired rope
a broken chair

2007-01-11T23:16:00.000-05:00

my fidelity:
the forest of the evening fog
of my glasses

* * *

the quickening touch
of her many fingers -
the winter willow

* * *

i can't cry
for what is lost
winter thaw

2006-12-15T21:42:00.000-05:00

freezing rain
broken glass breaks
frozen grass

the asphalt hoar
illuminates
my steam

another night sky -
blue teeveed windows
and i, passer-by

duskily lit
in the forest obscurity
form shadows

and the limpid song
of fast melting
snow

2006-12-08T23:59:00.000-05:00

ideally

in the sense that the snow
in an unbroken layer
covers everything

as kettle boiled down to
a coat of char and salt
that will not scrape

the residuum
of a vacuumed
continuum

as in wham
as in bam
as in yes,
ma'am

this beautiful surface
i could study
for a lifetime

* * *

the villian of my story
eats egg sandwiches with cheese,
chicken, unhatched, and olives

* * *

starlight burned out
streetlight that turns on
just as i approach

* * *

the unwritten
unspoken word
i know what it is.

2006-12-07T23:03:00.000-05:00

the warm exhaust
of this long winter night
and laundry steam

* * *

the entrenched labour
of never once, never once
shoveling my drive

2006-12-01T22:09:00.000-05:00

perfect
streetlit
snowfall

* * *

the cold is calling
it will hold you, lover
lover, forever

* * *

below snow stars
body warmth strong

but this is where
i lay down
my mittens.
this is where
i take off my coat.
this is where
my shoes
my feet first touch
where i sit
where i lay
i close
my eyes

for a second.

just for a second.

just
for
a second

second.

* * *

1/867,400th of a day.
1/3,847,833,000 of my life.
it just took 130 to figure that out.

* * *

get up snow and dance
make this everything crazy
close it on itself

2006-11-27T22:22:00.000-05:00

approaching the ice patch:
small, careful, measured steps
or build up some speed?

2006-11-18T23:53:00.000-05:00

growing a beard
can be pretty tiring -
lonesome november

2006-11-16T22:40:00.000-05:00

the maple key
falls
with no direction

(life is a circle -
sure, like the drain
the dangling feet)

2006-11-15T21:44:00.000-05:00

windows on four walls;
now this room -
no windows, no doors

* * *

pause before sleeping
sounding the deepend
preparing, depending
on ending the ending

* * *

blue, dark blue
the thousand shades
from black to blue

* * *

a last look at the moon
my last look at the moon?
one last look at the moon

* * *

dark deck, winter dank
dripping first snow
in my sandles

* * *

dark skies
the fireflies
of cat's eyes

* * *

my love is like children in the dark

* * *

me and the crickets
they remind me
we will not be remembered

* * *

(i bet i'd look like a bat
in my crow costume
if i had a bat mask)

2006-02-08T10:46:00.000-05:00

morning blizzard -
breakfast tea is good
in the afternoon

2006-02-08T10:37:00.000-05:00

halogen glow -
across the frozen road
sulk ghosts of snow

2005-11-27T00:46:00.000-05:00

those who choose
not to suffer
suffer more

those who choose
suffering
suffer well

2005-11-08T22:12:00.000-05:00

october's backyard
thick in wet leaves
a yellow raincoat

2005-10-20T01:04:00.000-04:00

black pine tops -
the glare of sun on lake
is surrounded

2005-10-20T00:58:00.000-04:00

years go by
by the rusting cars
in the weeds

2005-10-20T00:51:00.000-04:00

turbulence -
it can't be, it is,
it can't be

2005-10-19T23:44:00.000-04:00

evening homestretch -
standing in your shadow
a hundred yards away

2005-10-10T21:16:00.000-04:00

tan strip of beach
floats on the swaying point
of my kayak

2005-10-10T21:12:00.000-04:00

before landing
orange lichen on a rock -
the autumn birch

2005-10-10T21:11:00.000-04:00

in the sweat lodge
my mind may wander -
not in cold water

2005-10-06T00:10:00.000-04:00

through long looks
through thick windows
i am riverside

2005-10-05T00:02:00.000-04:00

cold in a sweater -
the first day's arrived
equinox aside

2005-10-05T00:01:00.000-04:00

birches' changes -
animated yellow on
charcoaled white poles

2005-10-04T00:19:00.000-04:00

fearless death
this whole forest soon
including the sun

2005-10-04T00:16:00.000-04:00

careless death
broken mushroom caps
my steps, steps

2005-10-03T23:54:00.000-04:00

my real sickness
staying inside all day -
warm fall evening

2005-10-03T23:45:00.000-04:00

night terrors -
but everything is fine
now isn't it?

2005-10-03T23:32:00.000-04:00

the forest edge -
another quiet autumn hike,
no quicksand, no bear

2005-09-20T12:03:00.000-04:00

wet fall day -
the sun doesn't shine
but mushrooms do

2005-09-20T00:39:00.000-04:00

swimming waves
while it rains -
drinking it

2005-09-19T00:22:00.000-04:00

watching the moon move
waiting for you to call -
watching the moon move

2005-09-18T23:53:00.000-04:00

harvest moon -
an apple falls
once an hour

2005-09-14T00:06:00.000-04:00

a year of haiku
and all i get
is here

2005-09-13T01:17:00.000-04:00

mimikaki -
the bumblebee lover
deep in the bloom

2005-09-13T00:38:00.000-04:00

river bottom
hard, soft
or surprising

2005-09-12T22:32:00.000-04:00

these clear-cuts are cairns,
a hundred miles of headstones -
here we bury the earth

2005-09-12T22:27:00.000-04:00

everything arrives -
the morning when the coffee
reflects the sun

2005-09-12T22:15:00.000-04:00

hooking the minnow -
feeling only for himself
he cried for the fish

2005-09-12T21:54:00.000-04:00

diaphanous dew -
my memory of your mornings
savoured and sun rose

2005-09-06T22:21:00.000-04:00

evening is ebbing
in the empty arms of birch -
when will you return?

2005-09-06T22:09:00.000-04:00

cold september water -
i can hardly tell
if i'm naked

2005-09-05T23:17:00.000-04:00

near-sighted salience -
sudden flowers burst colour
in verdant forests

2005-09-05T23:09:00.000-04:00

an airborn instant
over fallen forest trees -
immortality

2005-09-01T22:00:00.000-04:00

standing at the top
the only place you can see
humble sioux mountain

2005-09-01T21:55:00.000-04:00

twilit little girls
hair bouncing to the river
unafraid of ghosts

2005-08-31T13:27:00.000-04:00

almost autumn -
the bumblebees asleep
in the thistle

2005-08-31T13:21:00.000-04:00

leaving again -
the highway, the sky
one shade of grey

2005-08-26T12:48:00.000-04:00

> shhhhhhhhe> mmmmmmmmme>>
> still upon> a shaft of grass> listlessly> a dragonfly>>
> motionless> patiently> waiting for> the wind to die>>
> the wind tugs> his wings> the wind sings> a susurrous song>>
> of goldenrod> violets, ginger> clover fields> grown long>>
> shhhhhhhhe (the wind)> mmmmmmmmme (the dragonfly)>>
> now wings> shimmering> answering> with flutter drum>>
> dark water> thunder> chase, escape> a murmurous hum>>
> then release> my god> their dance> a whir>>
> impossible> grace> as he> enters her>>
> shhhhhhhhe> mmmmmmmmme>>

2005-08-26T12:43:00.000-04:00

daisy chain tying
you and me that summer day
cannot be broken

2005-08-05T01:58:00.000-04:00

cicada shells -
where once you stood
by the river

2005-08-05T00:37:00.000-04:00

dark brown water
somewhere six feet under
i get scared

2005-08-04T01:51:00.000-04:00

sit in the woods
a moment to comprehend
shit in the woods

2005-08-03T01:42:00.000-04:00

against the nylon
unseen drops whack flatly -
don't touch the edges

2005-08-03T01:10:00.000-04:00

winsome auburn
sunlit summer swimmer
stretching slowly

2005-07-28T23:58:00.000-04:00

these gathering clouds
on the edge of raining -
my simple sadness

2005-07-26T23:57:00.000-04:00

fishermen gone
the river is wide again -
summer nightfall

2005-07-26T01:08:00.000-04:00

old surgeon -
his eyes light up
talking carpentry