From my mother

from my mother

the wisdom in saving

scraps of cloth ...

inevitable,

the patching to be done

—red lights, January 2014 

EEK. I finally realized I'd already posted this one a few months ago. Why didn't you all tell me, LOL?

Enamored

enamored

of this stained-glass panel

till it strikes me . . .

the image only shimmers

with sunlight behind it

—Atlas Poetica, #14, March 2013

location: a garden shop, Navasota, Texas

It's pretty

it’s pretty

she says while showing me

the sparkling

little gold trinket

she’ll glue inside my mouth

—Atlas Poetica #14, March 2013

Tanka Prose

What if?

It's a city with storybook appeal: clock towers and onion dome steeples, cobblestones, a fortress, rows of colorful little buildings. A local tour guide points out various structures in the near distance.

the gray house

across the Inn River

where Hitler 

lived as a small child 

... when he almost drowned 

Author's Note: Information regarding "when he almost drowned" can be found in the book Out of Passau: Leaving a City Hitler Called Home (Anna Elisabeth Rosmus, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC, 2004) as well as in miscellaneous articles such as this one: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2082640/How-year-old-Adolf-Hitler-saved-certain-death--drowning-icy-river-rescued.html.

—Haibun Today, Volume 8, Number 1, March 2014

Her wedding ring

her wedding ring
found deep in red mud
………...that May day
when the tornado
tore through their heartland

Oklahoma, May 2013

—red lights, Vol. 10, No. 2, June 2014

Researching

researching
river cruises …
the notion
that for seven days
we could float away

—The Bamboo Hut, Vol. 2, No. 2, Jan. 2014

I recommend river cruising. 

Polishing

polishing
my father's wingtips
when I was small ...
now, the shoes he wears
unstylish and scuffed

—Mariposa 29, Autumn/Winter 2013

I remember sitting in front of the black-and-white TV, which might have been tuned to Bonanza or the Wonderful World of Disney. Shoes, polish, rags, and brushes were spread out on newspapers on the floor. And that oh-so-familiar scent. Personally, I think I did a pretty good job. That was back in the day when people needed to look good for work. I don't know: do people still polish their shoes? Or do they just buy more when the old pair becomes scuffed? Or does it even matter?

I roll them

I roll them
up, down, to the side—
the doctor
peers deep into my eyes
for imperfections

—kernels ("featured poet"), Summer 2013

Well, I'm currently redeveloping eye symptoms. Time to rest my "windows to the soul" as much as possible, which means a bit less time at the PC.