Flowering like an African violet
Onyx hair kinky with flair
Only you can be brown beauty
Thunder bold or teal shy soul
So diverse in the universe
Ties round head and neck
Emerald green black red best
Pride in your eyes your chest
A hex, a spell, a whispered barb
A curse, a lie, a witches garb
Behold the depth of darkness falls
And closes in on these four walls
The stone is cold beyond the touch
The rats roam freely from the hutch
The stench of vengeance fills the air
A silent footstep on the stair
The scent of overwhelming fear
The sense of danger edging near
The hallowed graves are overhead
It's time to meet the waking dead
My countenance, a melancholy
After strange footsteps possess our balcony,
Close to my two-room apartment,
Now limitlessly a source of contentment..
I do anxious listening,
The hairs on my skin glistening;
My ears coming alive, a-twitching:
Those of an eavesdropper soon a-snitching.
A near filtering of the snatched sound,
As they keep gaining ground;
The fullest conviction that they didn’t belong to a friend.
Or if they did, who was heading for another end.
To my window walk up, risking important life
To part its blind by a couple inches;
My grimaces, summary of the inner strife
Of one inwardly wrestling with prickly pinches.
It’s a forced recreation of “curiosity killed the cat”
And Unlikelihood of soon lying on my mat:
More contortions of my face.
Like a marathoner badly ending a good race:
Several repetitions of “Who goes there?”
And you shall have to tell me, “From where”.
Footstep Sojourn
Each step a footprint sojourn swept away in silent swirling. I catch snowflakes on my nose, alone save for the billion snowflake tinkling tree trunk timpani. I wonder: “Who else hears this sound, nature’s nuanced ballet performed in a darkened theater before a sleeping audience.” Laughing, I make a snow angel, then add horns…..a snow devil chilling its fever in the solace of snowflakes.
solstice pillow fight
street light ornaments twinkle
a snow globe chuckles
©11/30/2019
December or January Haibun Contest
The game started a long time ago
In the dark recess of unsure times
On the board of wasteland unknown
With quicksand pierced by cactus.
The sky filled with storm clouds dismal
Looked for the silver lining unformed
Cast amoebic shadows drab and dubious
On the dissolved light of horizon obscure.
Veiled destiny had set the game for me
I had to play with me perforce alone
With the dices invisible I was born with
In the clasped hands of fate ambiguous.
The venture in the course of play
Pushed me down the quicksand
Showed me the sheen of dew on cactus
For me each footstep was a crap shoot.
May 5, 2019
My walk each day
Takes me away
Where I can stray
My mind to play
Each trek it seems
Awakens dreams
And thoughts to be
—each footstep free
(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)
WHERE EVERY FOOTSTEP CRACKS
Walking on ice, where every footstep cracks
Frozen toes in socks that once were warm
Every snowflake on my frigid curls stack
I never meant to do anyone any harm
Every step I take, my disappearing feet
Frozen toes in socks that once were warm
I tried to speak, to see your face, to meet
Your eyes, with contempt still lingering in
Every step I take, my disappearing feet
If I will leave for good, will you please begin
Please understand, my love will not forget
Your eyes, with contempt still lingering in
So desperate my love, I wish we never met
I choose this freezing cold over frozen glance
Please understand, my love will not forget
If I sink deep, perform my final dance
Walking on ice, where every footstep cracks
I choose this freezing cold over frozen glance
Every snowflake on my frigid curls stack
***
December 30, 2016