In the Nurturing Damp

and what of that shack
now that summer has come
and gone and with it
the rawkus stellar jay
i evicted the first of two
times i swung open
the crooked door
in search of forgotten
things
with what will it
be filled by the people
i have allowed inside
during my impending
absence?
what things will nest
in the nurturing
damp while i seek
out a new home
for [...]

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Buried by winter

three feet of wet snow
on the roof of the shack
I shovel the decks
the steps
and the roof of my house
but the shack hunkers
down while the beach
drifts up
and the hillside sloughs
from the mainland
all I can see is the windows
and the trim board on the high
side of the shed roof
in my life
there is no time for writing
and less [...]

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Dream-verse

bleary-eyed father
runs down the trail seeking
something, perhaps
resembling silence
inside the crooked walls
of the shingled shack
below
not seeing
with eyes
but rather feeling
with memory
spring in the earth
around him
struggling also
to arrive
again this year
late
empty
bird feeder
in willow tree
budding
down-hill
reaching
for the runoff
runnels carved
in gravelly earth
and microscopic
horsetail forest
swollen
door
swung and latched
behind him
pen and
paper
in hand
seed opening
sprout of verse
a song for spring
let loose
where it flutters
and flowers up
and out
to the [...]

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Inside the Poem Home

inside disregarded shack
full of and
haunted by
long-ago written poems
dust is falling
through angled light columns
to threadbare rug
and faded painted plywood
from outside
i imagine i am
inside
with clear mind
hot tea,
focused and working
and not
outside
with dogs
and jobs
and kids
and houses
and money
in mind
inside the poem home
i am a new man
i call the dogs
from down the beach
and go inside
inside
____

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