Author Archives: Puff Of Smoke Poems

Stop listening so hard
to the talktalktalk of What If
drowning out
wind through the leaves
of this summer’s maples

Look here, this
white bowl full
of lemons
taut pebbled skin
holding a core
pure essence of
Bitter Sweet
sudden swooping nostalgia
on a sunny day
Life of pucker and joy

I prefer a sky
of tumbled puff clouds
tacked onto bright blue
above a field of wildflowers,
a few cows in the meadow
edged by forest with
its cool dark depths
beckoning.

Today’s forecast:
Sunny and warm with a
journey by afternoon.
Under cloudless skies
we’ll meet a
Missouri Fox Trotter
called Hero.
I’ve packed carrots
and an apple to feed
to your dream come true.

pink geraniums
still shine beside yellow leaves
where two seasons touch

Not much of a summer,
she said. Too cool, too wet.
Her disappointed face
irritated with weather.
Weather never gives you a thought,
I wanted to say. Didn’t.
Instead, the orderly progression
of small town talk
wide and long
never plunging
aware of the high dive
but facing away.

Another prayer for the list—
Let me remember
to reach for the jolt of the jump
shock of fast cold joy
on a hot enough summer day.

Sunlight over stones
just add water for diamonds
to fill this river

Summer’s crop of feral kittens
cry all night beneath
your bedroom windows
skittish and wild
eyes gleam in the dark
If you got out of bed
tried to catch them
they would scatter, hiss
Cornered, they would bite
to escape you, Wary
and more than wary of anything
larger than themselves
But still they return, night after night,
drawn to houses, to heartbeats
summoned to any lit windows
Small electric vibrations of desire.

Change is in the air
pennies and dimes
the odd half-dollar
floating and clinking
through the clouds,
falling heavy metal rain

last night in my house
a bat! A batbatbatbat
Eeeek! Aarrgghhh! Batbatbat.