O Happy Day

a name slips away before dawn
what is important clamors for attention

drawing pencils labeled
2H, 4H, 5H, or simply 2

hard graphite leaves lines
that are almost not there

what is elusive
what is important

[RK, 4/16/21]


Three Ways of Looking

The peach, pear, and persimmon,
the mango, mulch pile, and morning.
Here is where the horse stumbled.

Fluid prairie memories divest themselves
of natural color. That red streaked sky
before true light.

Clouds race their shadows.
A death remembered.
Winter.

[RK, 4/16/21]


Tumbler

Maybe that’s a cocktail shaker
fixing martinis for James Bond,
or a cement mixer parked beside
cracked sidewalk squares.

Maybe that’s the start of an avalanche
in the Pyrenees or Andes, tickling
your heels while you ski madly
in many directions.

[RK, 4/16/21]