in the stifling heat
the night’s oppressive silence
broken by thumping
as my heart beats basso notes
in concert with bare longing

this strange July sun
washed and faded by the rain
is summer's shadow;
faint souvenir of another
when the sun and your smile were one

the morning heat comes
in a shroud of cloud today,
a summer in veil,
it spreads hidden and silent
like your caresses at dawn.

summer heat
pulled from the brick wall
after sunset,
surrounding my body,
taking your place

Birthday Weekend

my birthday weekend...
a tornado siren
through the sound of the rain

in my in-box, birthday greetings
and news of his death

~

R.I.P. Jim - June 6, 2008

I wrote the haiku/first link around 8:00 this morning, close to the time he passed away. The news reached me in an e-mail about three hours later. Jim was a very active member in my family's parish, and he will be missed dearly.

~

The first week or so of June is full of birthdays for my family. My birthday falls on the 8th, when we will also be celebrating my grandmother's--she turns 99 on the 10th.

grandma and I
on the nursing home porch
never so similar
as when my mother sits
between us

after ninety nine years
what more can we give her?
an afternoon walk
where she calls the apple blossoms
snow

sunlight

drills into my eyes

as I walk

down the dusty road-

spring fades away

New Moon

     new moon
these thousand summer stars
vanish with my wishes
     even in my dreams
you have ceased to touch me

Poison

like poison
from deep in my veins
I draw out
these days of summer
from a spring without you