A Poem Not on the Foxes Passing Through my Yard Late in the Evening, not Exactly!

Like us living here, the foxes, in their rambling,

their lone roaming, solitary roving about,

are seeking what they need to survive, to get by,

things lacking these lean years of drought and unkindness,

a lack of space, their space, our space, dwindling, a lack

of kith and kind, socially distant, dying off, divided, a lack

of sustenance, too costly, in short supply, irreplaceable, those things

we need beyond hearth and home to sustain us, lost perchance

by progress regressed, just wandering as we do, as we must,

seeking them out, now, and finding them lacking, still, more,

taking what we can and, perhaps, sadly, calling it enough. 

Waking from my Nap

The mourning doves are softly cooing

outside my window, feasting on the seeds

shared from above by the smaller birds,

the chickadee and nuthatch, sparrow and finch,

sunflower seeds dropped from the feeders I keep filled,  

just to watch them and hear their songs,

their stories, dreams, and visions.

The Owl

An owl calls out into the night sky,

the distant “who cooks for you”

of the Barred Owl living here

at the lake, where I live,

this space we share, she and I,

her voice, now, a truth cried out

in the darkness, connecting us;

“good night, my friend,”

and to you, too, the same.

The Dragon Awakens

The dragon, sleeping now, awakens

and spreads wide his leathered wings

to fly again across the western sky,

igniting the sunset into a blaze of yellow

and orange, vermillion’s red, a sailor’s delight.

Sleeping Beauty

(Part of the Princess Series of Poems)

Beware Maleficent, ancient fairy uninvited,  

affronted for the lack of a golden plate, so angry,

so petty, as to cast her spell upon the royal infant,

blonde of hair and fair of skin, a curse

come due on her birthday, newly 17,

at the prick of a spindle’s needle, drawing blood.

Look instead to the last fairy, last gift bestowed,

powerless to undo a spell cast, but powerful enough

to change death to a deep sleep, one hundred

years and a first kiss, awoken by a handsome Prince,

determined, fighting thorns and, perhaps, a fiery dragon,

evil itself, seeking truth, seeking nothing but you, Aurora,

Princess, the sleeping beauty, and finding love.