Cadenza

I.

a bright cold morning
yes, it is january after all
i heard in the elevator
that snow was due
in a few days
and i thought of how
you come to me in disguise
like snow coming
when the sky is blue
as a baby's eyes

II.

this opportunity
to write to you in secret
showing my letters to no one
is no more daunting than the snow
which has not arrived
which may never come
except that it is winter
and likely to blizzard
if i am to believe
the sweetness inside me
that seems to find an answer
in the weather

III.

the snow has come
and i feel like a baby
in a blanket
a white blanket you made
and wrapped around me
to keep me warm
as i trudge
through the city

IV.

like your letter
that i lost
and forget to remember
the snow has melted
and the slick streets
say nothing
of its vanishing
they say
it will come again
but my mailbox
has been empty
for weeks
and, pitiably,
i believe
in such resemblances

V.

meeting at nightfall
beyond any dream
beyond any notion
or manner
of seem

VI.

i won’t ever forget
the time you went away
or said you went away
when i could see you there
in my mind's eye
like a mountain
i’ve read about

VII.

you call to me
like a siren
i hear in my sleep
and i wake
forgetting what woke me
i pull the quilt up
under my chin
and sleep like a child
the covers warm
as your voice

VIII.

trees
sparsely whitened
like trees in bloom
in the spring
snow
gathered in crevices
hidden in secret pools
among forests of branches
like yearnings
in dark gray bendings
i had not noticed before
the white pools of light
in the trees

Playtime

romping
with teddy bears
under a blue moon
dreams
of a beach house
pull the tide
of our love
up and over us
the navy sheets
we use
to play tent
making peaks
of delight
have you ever dreamed
of night
in the morning?
we'll always
stay this way
middle aged lovers
at dawn

lovers

two wings
meeting and parting
freedom

lonely lonely
sad and blue
except for you

Will O' the Wisp

you have gone
from me
but
like the sailboat
on the pond
in Central Park
i see you
turning back

Another Will O’ the Wisp

a sailor
the blue wind
at your back

thus i see you
in a dream

i have long loved sailors
who can tie knots
like you can

i confess
i didn't know
you were my captain

A Moment’s Doubt

you told me you were leaving
yet your eyes were soft as the belly of a bird

your hands as slow and awkward
as the calf’s first steps

i knew you would change your mind
by the time you got back from the cafe

Newly Betrothed

i've thought
of sending
something
i've written
your way --
but you know,
i don't write
a thing now...
i search
my soul
for a poetic
subject
and all i see
is a wedding...

A Rainy Day

Rain like soft down
falls upon my face
I walk quickly
as you urged me
I walk toward my fiancé
who knows what to say
I: walk toward you

A Moment

A wan mauve shadow
Passes over the light
Of her mind
And she wants to cry,
Feeling forsaken.

But looking out
At the sunlight
Outdoors
She laughs,
Waking him.

The Homeless Shelter

when the blizzard came
you weren't yet back
from Michigan
after two years
in a shelter
you finally went back
to your family
I didn't know
if you would ever
come back to me
but I was hoping

the day the city shut down
pure white piles of cottony snow
as far as I could see
I went to day treatment
to meet you
I fell three or four times
as I plunged down
the middle of Avenue A
you never showed up

now last night
two and a half years later
I was in a shelter
it's August, it's hot
and you went out to a movie
alone
I had decided to volunteer
and take care of the homeless
one night a month

when I got home
at six-thirty this morning
you were spread out
like Leonardo da Vinci's Universal Man
or like an eagle
under the indigo sheets
were you dreaming
of making angels
in the snow?

Plants in the Window

the light coming through
twin orange red blossoms
geraniums
I did not love them
until today
I saw how, for me,
you made them shine
and the leaves so
shiny green
so brilliant
like you
the leaves
wavy around the edges
of strong tissue

For Willy

You are beauty,
to me
Beauty as in
pure snow
Beauty as in
summer roses
Beauty as in
sunshine,
on a lake
Beauty, to me,
is you

A Poem for Myself

you'd think i'd see
such a panorama of colors
in the desert: the sky
a blue bowl
with no white scrapes or scratches;
purple or white irises;
and garnet rosebuds.
but hidden away
in new york city
my poetry sang,
on a walk this May morning
it began when I fell
on my hands and knees
tripping up a curb.
I had to go home
to take care of my cuts
and a too brief walk
through the village
began I thanked God
for this reprieve from my labors.
about me, all about me,
were flowers involved
in songs and textures;
leaves shiny and new;
and I thought of you,
how you hadn't read
the books i've read,
and thought of, too;
but you enabled this walk
where poetry danced,
in secret.