In This Gray Morning I Think of Hiroshige

Hummingbirds pause at the agave blossoms. Sunlight trickles through dense clouds. I stand sweating in the emptiness. Hiroshige, too, acknowledged oblivion, leaving his brush in the East, having completed a final task. Facing death, he sought the Western Land. In this space nothing fills me with desire. As you, in your unknowing, observe the flow.

Meteorologist on a Calm Day

I can’t even speak about clouds, the sky an unforgiving blue. I climb the sun’s gold ladder to heaven but it’s empty. Everyone returned to Earth to enjoy a perfect day. No wind, just a slight breeze to tease open the eye of a violet. An angel almost slipped on morning dew, but it grabbed onto a lilac just in time. I’m probably the only sad person, rain far away. I could indicate what might appear in tonight’s sky. Look up and see Jupiter, a world with real weather, a huge red spot gashed into it for centuries. Or Neptune with 2000mph winds.

What can I offer but 75 degrees and a bluebird preening on a flagpole?

Nude Philosopher

I peel off my clothes. Under fabric, the same old me, breathe in, breathe out, cars roll by, and my parrot theorizes on my shoulder. I think that I think better naked, but my ideas come fully dressed, soldiers in formation. Why did I tell them that they could live with me? It’s time that they fledge, make their own nests. Usually I keep each room dark. A light bulb hangs down by my bed. I turn the day on and off. I’m often asked about the meaning of life. I point to the sky and say “Clouds.”

I guess it sounds deep. My favorite flower is a dahlia. Blossom and go. Redden something along the way.

Change

Fall comes whistling softly like one who wants to be felt but not yet seen. It’s like holding and holding a door ajar, hoping the cat will choose in or out.

After long, sweaty months with night settling in by ten p.m., dawn knocking us awake, a flash bulb at six a.m., the long dusk folds its gray curtain, shaking out cool morning mist.

Time that held its breath for days while heat rose in waves expels it with a sudden wind that causes windows to fly open, houses to inhale, cough out mildew.

We shed a season’s lassitude, gearing up brain and bones for some slow forward movement.

We are on the verge, perched between skin and sweaters.