Author Archives: Puff Of Smoke Poems

his flannel shirt
clothesline-dried
its whole long life
fades, softens by seasons,
sways in this summer’s
breeze this same
breeze the barn opens to
brisk through autumn
flows to blizzard
barn shrugs and smiles
settles into its
patch of well-loved earth

Contentment and loneliness
paint such different pictures with
the same through line of
Quiet

in the space below morning’s birds
a slow sound and I don’t know
if it’s the candle guttering
or the cat purring by the door or
the low song of the washing machine
drifting in from the kitchen

or may be
it’s my sweet old house
humming to itself

Only teachers and moms
have trouble with this,
said the waitress.
Everyone else
throws money on the table
until someone says,
Enough.

But in us some force
rises to battle chaos
to whittle the world
into percentages
until it turns out
Fair for everyone.

She says,
Those dented boxes
you have stuffed
full of old photos
and ink-faded letters?
The dusty boxes stacked
precariously in the corner
(stacked on your heart,
stacked in the corner of your eye)
Oh, what you built there,
she says,
Those are a metaphor.

red flowers green leaves
blade of grass on the lawn chair
shaped its summer self
to this long distinctive curve
an ornament hook
in search of a holiday

over the thousand summers
all this music was here
pinned to the cool white door

is how I would describe
their tastiness to the
movie dinosaurs
whose every roar and
gnash was restated
Loudly so the whole theater
could enjoy the talents of
the two women behind us,
women formerly known
as obnoxious who I would now
characterize as deliciously crunchy

in every sense of the word.

why have clocks and pockets at all
unless occasionally I empty them
past all bits of lint and wrappers
past every squandered hour
and spend it all
for the joy of not measuring
and for the sweet relief of
After

Yesterday
at the first meeting
of the Sunshine Committee
they voted Yes
to Everything

all flash and grumble
ominous in the distance
and traveling fast
changing all the time
as we do.
It arrived on our doorstep
despite the bluster
as soft rain for the garden
someone to miss when they go