WATCHING THE FROST MELT ON MY NEIGHBOR’S ROOF


Sunshine lights our morning room,
enhancing colors, muted
after noon.

Across the street, facing west,
her house, next in line, for the October sun
to warm its roof.
By eight a toe-hold gained,
then a northward march
across the expanse of flat
frosted white.

One cup of coffee
and today’s work is done.
Her roof, returned to shingle tint.
Our room, again in shade.
The sun, arcing on,
risks being less
without one man’s regard.

DRK
Oct. 26, 2012

  OCTOBER BLIZZARD

Lacy locust leaves
Yellow October blizzard
Expectations swirl

DRK 10/19/15

  OCTOBER LITANY

October’s winds, blowing in
Another winter

Practice now with leaves
Challenge the snow later

Stir me up and get me out

Snow blower and shovels ready?
    Lord help me prepare
Lawnmower?
    Lord, stow it where?
Paint or caulk?
    Lord, help me prepare
Windows, doors, weather stripping?
    Lord, help me secure
Snow tires?
    Lord, help me prepare

Gutters checked?
    Lord, keep them clear
Plants to bring in
     Lord, they’ll need some care

Windshield scraper, I left where?
    Lord, help me remember
The heated bird bath?
    Lord, it will soon be December
Firewood ordered?
    Lord, help me remember
Hoses put away?
    Lord, I could have done that in September



DRK
5/2/16

 

 

 

WE CALL IT FALL

 

From our porch’s three seasons venue

The usual autumn views

But Erato prods

What’s new?

Wind rifling our trees

Being neighborly with our colors

The gravity of this situation

Does make me wonder

Is this why we call it “fall?”

 

Up the hill

Sunlight highlights the kill

Tall trees' rotting leaves

Obit

A color blast to remember

The end of October

And early November

 

Many songbirds will disappear

They sensed what looms

And will, as snowbirds do, warm their cheer

 

We do welcome

The hardy juncos

And other up-north visitors

With heated water

And stable food supplies

 

Their winter presence

We celebrate

 

With one caveat

Mr. and Mrs. Mouse

It can be dangerous

Inside our house

 

DRK

10/4/23

 

THE UNIVERSE IS EXPANDING

THE UNIVERSE IS EXPANDING

    Remembering Chicken Little

Are you struggling to remain small?

Or negotiate old distances?

Physicists have answered the call

There is a movement outward

 

Big Bang!

Have you noticed it? 

When I return to campus, as a retiree

I struggle to get from A to B

For thirty years I traversed this campus

Corner to corner, place to place

From office to classroom

And every imaginable meeting space

It never took this long

Students have always been challenged

To get from one end to the other

But, hats off, their generation is adapting

Through some evolutionary mechanism

Parking lots, our neighborhood

         Insert your own experience here

Everything takes more time

And energy to negotiate

When the universe expands

Everything does

Yonder, people must speak louder to communicate

And I do the same for them

Ladders extend higher

My girth and weight

But the future looks good

When I call upon the young 

They respond with such aplomb

Son, please take this stool 

That light bulb needs to be replaced

That one way up there

DRK

8/28/20

 

SOCIAL DISTANCING

 

Thinning air up here

Hair, too

 

Is that you over there?

No need to ask

In a younger year

 

Rare birds, we

Can barely see the herd down there

 

Check out that ladder

Sturdy

Been given some care

“Hey, stranger

May I ask?

Anchored where?”

 

Hope to see you soon

Climb a few more of those annual rungs

 

DRK

4/23/21

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SEPTEMBER SENSE

 

High summer inches toward dog days

And low autumn

The breeze coming through the screens

Rattles the dried up leaves still clinging to the maple tree 

October, a few days away

Warns, take this opportunity

To enjoy light

Laced through walnut and locust leaves

 

I imagine them counting down the weeks

Maybe days

'Til colder winds

Move only conifers and limbs

A different sound, indeed

Frost is next

My heated birdbath's first test

 

DRK

9/23/20