Sleeping Dog Lies

The involvement of ear
with tail with nose
with eye with muzzle
with knee; he makes
his circle here so perfectly
upon the bed where he well knows
he is not supposed to be.

February 17 2012

It Fell

It fell all day.
I was reminded of those portions of the world
where the air may be at any time inhabited
where distance is always layered into fainter
and fainter gray. 
It brought the counsel of the coyote much closer;
I felt the animal's defensive gaze upon me 
as it turned to disappear,
and I was minded to build a fire even in my living room.
God of the suburban South, help me close the eyes of my imagination on
those barren plains and the silent ancestor mountains beyond.
God of the North, protect my family and me till Spring.

February 17 2013

Bespectacled Man

When I find I have become the bespectacled man,
it is, because it is fitting,
without any sense of regret.
As I wait among the dancers at the studio for my own,
in the calm eye of their ceaseless storm of sparrowbanter,
it is pleasant to feel apart,
a part of the unconsidered furniture of their day,
playing an outmoded game on an outmoded telephone. 
No one, they say,
if they say it at all, no one, and it is true.
How peaceful to be so undisturbed until she comes out,
tired, whom I may ferry
tiredly, happily home.

February 1 2013