The 500 Pound Halo

Dreams
One Dog
Two Orange Chickens
A Frog
A Crabapple
The Grass That Itched The Path
The Blue Puddle Trailer
Waking Up The Owl
The Harbor Is Where The Boats Come And Go

Dreams

Is it rain doves that call
from far over hills?

The nighttime is haunted
by firefly wings

Whatever it is
wherever you are
what’s hiding is
never as far
as it seems

One Dog

A mangy dog that talks
had been a prince under trees
with plenty of meadows
and roses grew at his feet

Now the only petals he sees
are the cardboard box folds
in the alley where he sleeps

What does he talk about
when he mumbles and groans
when it’s always hard to tell
if he’s talking at all

He’s a mangy dog
with a story as old
as the world
Two Orange Chickens

In the birch above the sidewalk
two orange chickens
on the white bone branch
roost with green leaves
looking more tired than me
(on my way to work)
but enough common sense
to hide above it all

A Frog

The cashier has a frog
in her throat

The day is ending
at last

The sky is empty

When she gets home
before she sleeps
she puts the green
in a china cup
beside her bed

A Crabapple

More than once upon a time
a crabapple popped off the tree
and made so much noise in the field
the foxes ran away in fear
leaving dry twigs and leaves
bare as October

Be careful
it takes a lot of patience
and a tall wooden ladder
to get a crabapple back
into the rustling breeze
where it began




The grass that itched the path


The Blue Puddle

I’ve seen you
skim the green curdle
off the frog pond
a couple times now
but I’m still
waiting
for your words
to make
the puddle blue

Waking Up The Owl

Starting night
burning newsprint
cardboard, letters
and wrapping paper
sent up a yellow
sheet of fire
and little cities
of orange lights
tumble in thick
curling smoke
finally
waking up the owl
like a piece of moon
in the barn
taking flight

The Harbor Is Where The Boats Come And Go

The dead live in
the land of dreams
even if you follow
the signs and sails
down to there
you won’t be able
to bring them back

A record found
in a forgotten store
A page behind
the cushion of a chair
A message
on the window
in morning dew

Take a haunted train
Take your heart out
the open hood of a broken
car
Take a one-way road
and follow the moon

They’re kept
on laundry lines
and the quiet
goes on for miles

“Once you’re a ghost
you can’t come back”

Though he held onto her
her dress was cold
and he only woke up
to the night