Tanka at the Equinox

jo'b   

Walking in the field

In the stillness after rain

Jeans soaked to the knees

We found comfort in silence

And peace hung in the balance.

Retrospective

jo'b   

We'll call it autumn                                  

Sudden and sentimental                                  

Giving in to it                                  

 

                                 

Evening in the Thicket

jo'b  

                         Late in the thicket of the soul,

                         where it was slow-going,

                         overgrown with the brambles and vines

                         of common catastrophe,

                         he accepted at last

                         the hard-earned conclusion

                         that he lacked the courage

                         to embrace what he thought

                         he'd always wanted—

                         unconditional love,

                         that uncommon thing—

                         powerful,

                         wounding,

                         and misplaced.

 

I Just Close My Eyes

jo'b  

 

Haven't stood in the sea since before COVID,

but I visit often, I can be there anytime I want

when a southerly wind is sighing in the oaks,

I just close my eyes and listen, I just close my eyes

and hear the rush and wash of the surf at my feet,

I just close my eyes and feel the cold ocean

and the sand between my toes, I just close my eyes

and see the band of Venus over the edge of the earth,

I just close my eyes and feel the salt spray on my cheek

and the sunset on my back, I just close my eyes,

and I sense the warmth and the breath

of the absent souls

that make my heart ache for the sea.

Because It's Still Summer

jo'b     

It's not too late.

Light from the low sun

like a sheet of honey over the fields.

A swarm of dragonflies

hunting over the yard,

after mowing, in the silence,

the rattle and glint of wings.

The feast continues.

We touch each other

to prove we are still here.

Tell me it's not too late.

—with two lines by Ocean Vuong

Solidago Days

jo'b   

Dew-strung and crowned with dawn

no one could find us

in the goldenrod field

as we had wished,

listening to the bees

chanting as they worked,

our pantlegs tucked into our socks

sprayed with Permethrin

against the stark truths of the world.

The Mind Floats Free

Working at the keyboard

the mind floats free

through the kitchen door

and over the fields

 

where last she dreamed

she was picking blackberries

her fingers stained

and where we gave

her ashes to the wind.

Nepal

jo'b     

                    

Another thousand sunsets               

                    in my feed               

                    May the Earth survive               

                    our extinction               

 

Unsettled Time

                              It's been a long time

                              since time

                              driving backward from the capital

                              living in reverse

                              returning

                              to the shade of the woods

                              sibylline leaves tumbling

                              up to their branches

                              raptors overhead

                              northward tail-first drifting

                              September going clear

                              and blue again

                              our souls intact

                              at the edge of consequence.

—with two lines by Ocean Vuong