solipsist

Two swallows loop and swoop and bill and bond,
as if between the twain, they shared one mind.
A pas de deux split by the glassy pond;
this pair are  closest kin, and more than kind.
A mirror cosmos, swapping left for right,
accessible at water's interface.
Insensible to scent, but plain to sight
might fill--like ours--infinity of space.
Each swoop, the partner's there to keep the date,
no straying eye could tease the pair apart.
Narcissus and his true-love strain to mate;
four wings in sync beat to a single heart.
To love the Other like one's self seems right,
but this one's just a trick of bending light.

apparition

Pink clouds of cherry blossoms levitate
upon a sea in countless shades of green
a challenge for the mind to contemplate
within three pounds of squishy wet machine.
If clouds wax pink, why need a sky be blue?
and must your lexicon comport with mine?
The frequencies reflected set the hue,
but conversation's tinted by each mind.
The qualium evoked when you see "red"
might differ from what I call by that name.
I can't know what goes on inside your head,
'though lazily, I treat the two the same.
A vernal contemplation en pleine air
is pretty, 'though I can't be sure what's there.

under pressure

The crocus thrusting past the dregs of snow
to pass its genes along, can't miss the date.
Banked glucose from last Fall's spent now to grow
to rendezvous with bugs that pollinate.
While salmon hatching out in gravel beds
rely on plagues of insects to wax great,
concatenated species, "food" and "fed"
choreographed to each proliferate.
'Til CO2 knocks all of this awry
each Spring thaw sets another record-mark;
red photons that should leak into the sky
get tangled in our blanket, 'though all's dark.
Darwinian biology of change
may not keep up as Climate gets deranged.

glimmers

Fresh snow-melt churns and scours the turbid creek
and crocuses thrust leaves and flower-buds forth
this February thaw may prove a freak
rebirth seems imminent, here in the North.
While Florida, and Texas suffer snow,
our Winter's preternaturally mild
caressed by the warm, moist Southwestern flow,
the grumpiest is presently beguiled.
Tomorrow night may bring another frost,
the jetstream that had veered, perchance will back.
Untimely vernal blossoms may be lost
like sunset's colors winking into black.
Dark months before the skiers' final fling,
imagination grasps at straws of Spring.

top angler

Unflapping, as if painted on the sky,
her pinions balanced on the April breeze
no meal escapes her glitt'ring yellow eye
who perches on the air, as if in trees.
The osprey stoops, our breaths and heartbeats pause
she exits dreamtime, very much awake.
A trout now thrashes dumbly in her claws
that thought itself the big fish in this lake.
The timeless drama, predator and prey
the plumpest sacrifice the waters give
will feed her nestlings for another day
unless fish die, their predators can't live.
To mourn this death too much would be absurd;
my sympathy's entirely with the bird.

on a Grecian Urn

pink clouds of cherry-blossoms float within a sky of green
as if I've misinterpreted the frequencies of light
as sweet a harbinger of Spring as any I have seen
a Through the LookingGlass effect that some say can't be right
convention links one spectral band to one specific word
but other languages define a wholly diff'rent map
my expectation that you'll understand must seem absurd
between two minds, I can't presume to ever bridge the gap
yet still, I feel compelled to share this vernal scene with you
and trust your inner lexicon to correspond to mine
a vision of such loveliness I must believe is true
what can't be proved deductively must hint at the divine
a sky of green, a cloud of pink, on earth as up above
a poet's faculty's deranged when seasons turn to love

Purim

the year's last  moon hangs low above the drink
a gleaming garnish to the bounding brine
it's barely glimpsed before it has to sink
Time's Arrow marked off by this cyclic sign
a final fling, once more to wax and wane
but first a ball of alcohol and masks
before another year swirls down the drain
to clear the desks for Pesach's cleaning tasks
the year churns 'round and we've advanced a pace
the cyclic coupled to the linear
by looking at one or the other face
we make Life's arc seem somewhat friendlier
trajectories make sense when read in tracks
we only get to see them looking back

reborn II

the compost-bin makes loam from kitchen dregs
whose nutrients make yellow daffodils
and bunnies strain to lay those pastel eggs
as longer days dispel the dark and chill
the monochrome of Winter yields to Spring
and blossoms blaze where there'd been slush and frost
botanic gems bedeck the hills with bling
to lure a pollinator, damn the cost!
the resurrection's played out by the Earth
Persephone or Mithras fit as well
as Christians' tale of death and then rebirth
and no one needs to ever rot in Hell
let's dance for Easter but dispense with Lent
life's far too short to be so grimly spent       

reborn

the compost-bin recycles kitchen dregs
to make the loam that nurtures daffodils
and bunnies strain to lay those pastel eggs
as longer days dispel the dark and chill
the monochrome of Winter yields to Spring
and blossoms blaze where there'd been slush and frost
botanic gems bedeck the hills with bling
to lure a pollinator, damn the cost!
the resurrection's played out by the Earth
Persephone or Mithras fit as well
as Christians' tale of death and then rebirth
and no one needs to ever rot in Hell
let's dance for Easter but dispense with Lent
life's far too short to be so grimly spent       

so green

a parody of youth and vulgar wealth
all flagrant ego, too cool for ski-school
without regard for courtesy or health
he'll let the geriatrics mind the rules
the sickest gear from all the swankest brands
to wow the ladies at the ski-lodge bar
an adolescent puppet of his glands
who sneered at limits 'til he pushed too far
the monochrome of Winter yields to Spring
a swatch of scarlet stark among the pines
as flesh sloughs off, synthetic fabrics cling
a skier who ignored the 'boundary' signs
a boon of nitrogen elates the trees
a dilettante who thought he really skis