Diagnostician

A realistic bobcat
creeps through my bedroom
kittenish but still wild, my
mattress shifts keep it at bay.

You brought those spiders and bats
with you from Wisconsin and Kansas,
they grind and sharpen the tools
without your permission.

Perhaps alarm clocks are time bombs
distilled from absorbed dreams,
perhaps your phone app only tracks
the deepening crease of sleep.

[RK, 3/29/21]

Blackberries

It’s time you started your second
blackberry novelette. You’ve scrubbed
your desktop with a pumice stone,
spritzed diluted bleach to remove
juice stains. All to no avail!

Your notebook is spattered with
purple dots. Connect the dots.
You’ve cleared your winter trails,
Now your fine pen is filled with
blackberry juice. I did not forget!

[RK, 3/29/21]