Did Fall Come This Year?

Did I miss Fall? The
smell of apples aside,
it’s all rainy cold.

You Seemed to...

You seemed to check for
a pulse. Your hands were cold, but
I did not shiver.

All the Thyme Has Died

All the thyme has died;
the lavender has wilted.
Birds no longer come.

A Longing

I have a longing
for Summer in Fall, for pop
and sunburns and Light.

Tall, white crane

Tall, white crane; long, brown
reeds muddy the blue water--
Unseeing cars pass.

A placid shrewdness

A placid shrewdness
turns to laser focus as
the cat stalks its prey.

Not a Haiku

You remind me of hard rock
and mullets
and Chevys carefully painted with primer;
of boys who never liked me in high school,
who wore hatred as casually as a t-shirt
and as lovingly as a favorite pair of jeans.
And, instantly!, I'm fifteen and ugly again --
feeling alone, fumbling with a cigarette,
wishing you'd deign to just look at me, and
maybe like me just a little.