Overcast

*

Photo by DSD on Pexels.com

*

early morning

two birds in silhouette

beneath the big pine

wings outspread,

barely moving

*

left side bird is larger

right side bird wobbles its wings

Crows’ strange mating ritual?

A standoff between two males?

*

I stare, squint and puzzle

the brain adjusts the shadows

that become the heads

of two deer resting–

wing-shaped ears

*

The armed soldier

is a sharecropper

mourning two sons

The immigrant cleaner

taught calculus

in her home country

*

To question our brains’

perception–what

we think we see, know

truth lies deeper

As We Turn Toward the Light

As we turn toward the light

dreams drift away.

Mothers and fathers

so vivid in voice and gesture

return to the shadows.

As we turn toward the light

our senses awaken

to sleep-scented sheets.

Dawn slides from charcoal

to mauve to lilac.

As we turn toward the light,

clouds blush.

Our fingers curl, anticipate,

regret.

Branches etch an eggshell sky.

The square space encloses.

As we turn toward the light,

vision narrows to a point.

The wide, fulsome dark

of dreams and possibilities

retreats.

The hourglass flips.