New Year’s Day, La Honda

 

New Year’s Day, La Honda

Sun
so low but
welcome, so welcome

Planter box
bulbs within, stirring
days after solstice

Yellow toy truck
among fallen leaves
Child in college

Cracked window glass
last summer’s
tennis ball

Barbecue grate
black sizzle
icy to touch

Chimney smoke
she’s my neighbor
so warm

Redwood bark
furry sinews
to the heavens

Sunbeam shafts
through branches
blessings

A spider swings
by silver thread
pondering: up or down?

On the deer path
wild turkeys trot, heads high
with dignity

Chimney bricks jumbled,
mossed where they’ve lain
since the earthquake,
home to lizards

Toyon shrub
bright red berries
feasting waxwings

Wooden loveseat
rotten, unsafe for sitting
exhausted by love?

Ceramic urn
her ashes scattered
now vintage rainwater
wiggling nymphs

Coyote
ears perk
flash gone

Utility pole
fate of straight trees
lifting wires
pulse, nerves

Garbage can
upside down
so I lift and—
turtle eggs glisten!
so set it back, shelter
until spring

……

From my book Foggy Dog

 First published in Nature Writing