Rescuing some old pomes/fragments from elsewhere

Rat Race

Same as mouse race
only bigger
is how
the Chinese see it.

Along with
ugly butterflies:
the ones
we know as
moths.

*



hungry wolf


MFK Fisher had it right:
the only thing to do
is cook it

*



imaginary grace

What we ask
when our eyes are closed
when warm in the circle
of another's arms

Or joy. That, too,
is sometimes granted
for a while

*


erotic cabaret

velvet glove, pulled slowly down,
fishnet stocking tight over a rump
a floweret placed. . . .

ah, no
not what we had in mind. . . .

the space between fingers
the wrist drawn down a belly
a finger searching for
the heart of the orchid

*



playing with matches

hard nail across a match head
years of experience
to perfect the trick
and many burned thumbs

*



time crinkling

just a life
a memory
a mother's smile
as she touches
gingerly, almost
a lock of fine blond hair
tied with a bit of faded
blue ribbon
in the memory box

*


wastelands tapestry


the golds blown
the browns faded
a bit of glint on the sage
pale skeleton of tumbleweed
whisks by

childhood memories
of a desert-born woman




jjl
2/12/2007