We climbed
narrow cobblestone spirals
the fortress perched where hilltop meets sky
overlooking the Guadalete River.
Continue Reading »
Posted in Love, Owls, Raptors, Spain, Travel | Leave a Comment »
[after viewing encaustic paintings of Stephanie Hargrave, Shift Gallery, Seattle, 2/10/2018]
Black graphite dust
skitters across
the small beige panel
molten wax layers
built up in relief.
Continue Reading »
Posted in Art, Love | Leave a Comment »
On January 13, 2018, an employee of the Hawaiian Emergency Management Agency issued a ballistic missile alert. Thirty eight minutes later, a second message was sent, describing it as a “false alarm.”
Here’s a modern day math problem:
After launch, a missile travels 4600 miles.
At an average speed of 306.67 miles per hour,
calculate the duration
of the end of known life
on a Pacific Rim Island.
Posted in Death/Loss/Grief, Existential, Fear, Hebrew School, Mortality, The Shoah | Leave a Comment »
I placed two octagonal centavos
in the vendedor callejero’s
weathered brown hand.
He opened the door
of the two-tiered cage
underneath an intricately carved wooden castle
to release the light yellow canary.
It hopped onto the embroidered Mayan cloth
toward a box overfull with colored slips of paper
folded and numbered
packed like tea bags
promising advanced knowledge
of destined perils and joys.
Continue Reading »
Posted in Birds, Existential, Travel, Writing | Leave a Comment »
My mother dreams of
walking the mausoleum’s corridor
searching for her name
among the eye-level inscription plates
petite crypts
holding entombed breasts.
It’s been more than 30 years since
the era of battling early stage breast cancer
with radical mastectomy –
without reconstruction.
Still she dreams of being
reunited, made whole.
Continue Reading »
Posted in Dreams, Love, Poetry | Leave a Comment »