Hummingbirds early
bobbing and weaving in cool
loops around the blooms

"Poets are people
who are dissatisfied
with the dictionary."
--Billy Collins

abstruser musings

Spenser and Tennyson shelved
in Medieval Literature

it is not a bad thing
to be a poet read by people
who don't read poetry

wintry light of a June
morning on the West Coast
sound of unseen motors

fog retreating up the mountain
grass like long combed hair

padded headphones

orange and silver
and walking to breakfast

wood chips and gopher holes
my unfinished chess moves

phantom · fireworks
purloined · fireworks
yellow · eyeliner
interstate · fireworks

gypsy klezmer
tattoo of an eye
on the back of your neck

this caravan
just now setting out
this bivouac broken

this caravan
will not want entertainment
until much later

skylight
from this building's
previous uses

Deconstructed Ahi Poke
mask eyes rimmed by stylized flames

hidden for now
the stars of this caravan
and of its departures

we are walking now
the death of driving
sitting in our cars
we are walking the death of driving

i can almost imagine
selling a painting now

Putomayo and tahini
writing ghazals
dollars in our pockets

i want no more
to be separate from the world

no Koran in my heart
yet hajji
sunrise and sunset

hummingbirds early
the suq
prior to setting up

no more
machine made clothes
to write poetry in

a mask
can't be too ugly for me

the hours
that consecrate stillness
without writing a poem

asymmetrical print
clothes

asymmetrical
the Koran in my heart

without writing a poem

sesquiYorky
piranha sushi

arcane daughter

the price of living in paradise

whiff of brimstone
at the gates of Montecito

the language of the crows
no longer
intelligible

the sun is my enemy
the moon is my enemy too

air's barely moving
filled with the cries of birds
the pool unblemished

not to see the sun
is what the birds say
to each other across the pool

jaw shoe
2270 Barley
Summerland

wasabi ginger sauce
magnolia nectarine

soft bladed fans

the pink moment
as flying monkeys scream

secret cats
the olive and turquoise sea

glass chessboard
clear
against translucent

silver desert ants
the old moon
in the new moon's arms

sunrise
we didn't want to wait for

piranha sushi
digital picture frames

extension cord orange
the sun
across scuffed tiles

expired
my passport
in the bright cool dawn
expired
my passport
with the chorus of birds

my hands
older than my face

we are digging

the caravan without us

everyone
has something on their ear
a bird hopping
to within three feet of me

it's a fine line
between vigilant
and extra vigilant

inherited deserts