the umbrella left behind on the train
made someone’s day

she thought she’d be caught
in the rain

a stranger’s distraction
gave her protection

When she smiles, parts of her begin to melt,
turn to jello; listening to Bach’s cello suites
each euphonious note is felt
with surprising heat

if words are honest,
it is always the middle of something
so why speak?

thirty wait in chairs
the rest queue up outside
drab bureaucracy 
belies the breadth
of human experience 
bringing them here

bringing greenery inside, the scent of pine
connecting hearth and earth
strands of light in the darkness

Anna Karenina at the station
finds she’s missed the last train,
calls an Uber and heads for home

we weren’t bad girls, we were just girls
curious, watching the smoke unfurl

I will admit to some regrets.

I rode the elevator
with a ghost this morning
should have taken the stairs
but I hoped to find him there

I still love humanity,
misguided as we are,
the slow-motion suicide
of our excesses
sexy as a pin-up girl
dragging on a cigarette.

A secret’s born of shame and raised by fear—
too easily transformed into belief,
these narratives that somehow persevere
by day but can’t survive within the realm of sleep.

This year I will make friends
with autumn

Hands
Mind
Heart
Sex
Gut

The jolt awakens you at 4am:
a minor earthquake
or just the house settling?

does it matter?

Walking against the wind
October sunshine 

the hawk’s circling dive
criss-crosses the airplane’s ascent 
whisper of grasshoppers rustling, chirping
in the tall grass
mingles with the whooshing freeway

today it was a fifth floor balcony
last month fast-moving traffic,
a good-looking stranger 
an approaching train
no cause for alarm
this lunacy will wane
and wax again

Our pet snail escaped the aquarium again.
Second time this month.
The snail’s name is Zippy.
Perhaps Zippy is trying to tell us something.

So the doorbell rings
And it’s the mid-life crisis delivery guy
And he’s like, “uh, did somebody order an second adolescence?”
And I’m like “I’m sorry, you must have the wrong address. I’m barely over the first one”