My First Albums

buried

shoved into a dusty dark corner

battered boxes of canning jars

obscure a red milk crate

a few vinyl gems plucked:

Cosmo's Factory

Abbey Road

Through the Past Darkly

these were played 

flipped

and played again

41 more wait below

each one pulled out 

and played 

oh that stereo summer

Note: Woodstock, The Band, Rumors, Chubby Checker, CSNY, After the Goldrush, Elvis, Arlo Guthrie, Bob Dylan...and so many more.  It was a beautiful and life changing find - I was about 7 when I starting listening to these albums.

2024

laptop clicks open

blue light cuts 

through morning dark

emails have stacked up

over the holidays

first one: The World Should Fear 2024

an essay of doom

the tired monk leaves it unread

puts on steel toes, a thick scarf, 

and new Christmas toque

tackles the big Aspen rounds

axe cracks through cold seasoned wood

a fresh cord split by noon

yule poems

i)

ragged notebook on garage floor

inches from melted snow puddle

front cover loose and torn

taped back on

new poems today

ii)

the night before

the night before Christmas

promise of snow...

just slashing white sleet

iii)

twin orphan fauns

walk the fence line

up the frozen hill

into the cedars

two scenes

"news" thick with doom

algorithms of  filthy lucre...death

"social" media swipes

skits on a tiny screen

pulling your gaze deep

woodland walk

a rugged trail between 

icy cornfields and a rocky ridge

out deep with the deer, 

the pheasants, the quails

early winter

crimson flurry

a whirling flapping burst of red

two male cardinals

scattering the grey chickadees

and pretty slate juncos

seeds fly 

fall from the feeder

squirrel bounds

over fresh snow

to feast 

Milton Road Poem

attention drifts to a barren tree

...that's a big bird

an owl, a hawk, a  raven?

no

the head is blended invisible

into the grey November sky

a bald eagle

scanning for rabbits

along the cold creek banks

the season

macabre pumpkins melt

rotten orange goo 

between deck cracks

snow skiffs swirl

blowing a pinless poppy

into the ditch

newly unboxed lights

LED brightness beams

sparkle over new snow