April 30, 2020

watching the storm wind
push petals up the street —
death tolls rising


April 29, 2020

almost dark —
we try to name the birds
by their outlines


April 28, 2020

just for a moment —
forgetting who I am allowed
to be close to


April 27, 2020

seeming to have lost
its feeling for falling —
rain like a cloud


April 26, 2020

with every day
a little less to share —
memories of the real


April 25, 2020

at the bamboo’s edge
a fox kit peeking out —
signs of spring


April 24, 2020

seven weeks on —
at the base of the ironwood
a puddle that won’t dry


April 23, 2020

rain at the window —
I ask my mother
how long it will last



(Written during the period of pandemic-induced lockdown:
my mother lives about an hour southwest of me. When
it rains here where I live, the storm is often one that she
has already experienced. So she might have a guess as to
how long a storm I was in the middle of would last.)


April 22, 2020

front yards full of sun
blooming weeks ahead of us —
sneak preview


April 21, 2020

we hear 
but cannot see for the dark —
flags at half mast 


April 20, 2020

the house sparrow’s
speckled empty shell —
life beyond lockdown


April 19, 2020

nesting geese —
their whole world narrowed
to these five eggs


April 18, 2020

even at night —
we lie here trading stories
of sunny skies


April 17, 2020

tightly furled buds
at the tips of every branch —
he won’t talk to me


April 16, 2020

clear crisp night —
we speak the stars
into existence


April 15, 2020

soaking up sun
halfway up a dead tree —
two mourning doves


April 14, 2020

night walk in April —
the scent of blossoms
we can’t even see


April 13, 2020

strange habit —
leaving garden tools out to dry
just before it rains


April 12, 2020

tiny buds
asleep in the morning sun —
dreams of opening


April 11, 2020

late afternoon breeze —
most of the magnolia petals
already gone


April 10, 2020

empty streets —
pear blossoms falling
like slow rain



April 09, 2020

spring squall —
birds and branches
chased from the sky


April 08, 2020

April 07, 2020

full moon —
ragged cloud blanket
shot through with holes


April 06, 2020

snapping the stalks
of last fall’s tallest flowers —
we work to make room


April 05, 2020

riding our bikes
through a new part of the park —
paths curving beyond sight


April 04, 2020

we leave the sidewalk
to walk in the empty road —
new ways in the moonlight


April 03, 2020

fiddlehead ferns
pushing up into the lawn —
my neighbor steps back


April 02, 2020

quick chats with strangers, 
the stop and start of schoolbuses —
we miss the world


April 01, 2020

one mockingbird
trying on another’s song —
who’s fooling who?