Bathtime

Hundreds of fleeting bubbles pop

with the sweep of an arm,

the splash

of a foot.

Punctuated with little girl voices:

"Pretend we're princesses."

"Pretend we're getting married."

Mounds of luminous bubbles

pile high on their heads--

delicate, ephemeral crowns.

Hundreds of fleeting bubbles pop,

Haiku on the Wall

Haiku on the Wall, originally uploaded by DRheins.

ink on old white wall

I pick a red pen, with felt

paint this star for you

After the roar of the party

I step out into the cold silence

breathe white steam before me

a bull out of the barn

Feel the solid crunch of leather boots on fresh flakes

the crisp leaves breaking

as each leg swings and sinks deep

I survey my land and smile

Something refreshing about being buried

in snow

Hurricane Colts

A corn country wind

Hurricane Colts heads down South

Blue skies for Blue Crew

Super Trip

Colts fan caravan

hot drive down to Miami

singing ourselves horse

No My Pet

I am not a cat person
nor do I keep a dog
share no especial equine love
lack affection for the frog

If I were named poet laureate

If I were named poet laureate
I would put it on my tombstone
Print it in my obituary
Place gold stickers on all my books

December 21st

New snow dusts the yard / cold, grey Indiana morn / jeans crack, chafe each step

Forties fading fast / five days till I turn fifty / milestone or millstone?

Homecoming Roadtrip

Deer on the road dead / a man leaps from burning Jeep / Four cops with guns drawn

Bob Dylan at IU Auditorium

even in row 5 / Bob Dylan is a mere blur / Tom Waits a shadow

Fair Exchange

She pays me in coin /

small change she finds on the ground /

Good luck, you’ll need it

solace of salmon

solace of salmon

salmon, seattle aquarium, originally uploaded by DRheins.

upward we swim, up / en mass toward the light and warmth / coho consciousness //

His head is spinning with the theory

Between each gig; all is lost.

A gaping hole of anxious self-pity

A drain where once a reservoir stood

His life is measured in monthly cycles

Of moon and Mr. J.P. Morgan

Where once he toiled to change the oceans

Now he moves to follow the flood

It rains with fury this dark Tuesday morning

He works alone in his cosmic man cave

Seattle glassworks mildly smolder in the tray

Francis Francis stays red, hot and brewing

Rainier’s blue outline / surreal in the yellow sky / sends me off with awe

Children on the Playground

Shooting stars zipping around a plastic and metal solar system blue and green and yellow flushed with fiery exuberance...

Slip

Loose falls the night gown /

flower slip softly gathers /

silk pile on the shag

Near Neah Bay

Rude hewn branch ladder / climbing up the ancient tree / stairway to heaven

The Feather

The feather drifted slowly

from the soaring gull

to land on dirty water

at the midnight toll.

...

White Lion

Summer's end. Golden lions grow white with age-- They will wave their offspring away And wither to a roarless death

...