Puff Of Smoke Poems

Your emojis
Do not translate on my phone
All those messages
By the time they reach my screen
Are nothing but gibberish

Our phones are talking
Electronic sweet nothings
In each other’s circuits
Let them whisper their secrets
While we use ordinary words

Not like any poem
I’d want to read,
these restless pacing cats
roam my living room
and circle in my head
both of us quiet and agitated
as we try to stir up something—
words or the memories of mice.
Warped art of this moment

mixed in the raked leaves
tiny candy bar wrappers
Halloween litter
last of the season’s
fun-sized messages

a season
preoccupied with change—
one day, this whole month
will wake up
in a mood—
all gray
rain and wind
pounding the wet sky
harrying the crumbs
of maples
as they leave

restless autumn week
hugs summer weather tight,
basks in all this golden light
as I do
like a pause in a symphony
or a line break in a poem
a chance to catch your breath

Savor It
quickly now
because the weather
and so much else
is about to change

sun dazzles my eyes
small cloud, time it takes to read
one page of haiku

We woke to piano music
late last night –Not, after all,
a tone deaf ghost
late for Halloween
but the old cat
pacing the keys
picking his path
to the perfect perch
finally finding an octave
where he could rest
playing his catnap
on the cool black
accidental keys

the way the wind decides

which leaves to stir

the way the tree decides

how tightly to hold on

the way the leaf decides

now time to let go

is an instruction the field
paid attention to
starting each morning’s project
with the simplest materials—
damp grass, clouds,
scattered leaves from sleepy trees
conspire to cover this particular canvas
in stripes of shadow and gold

I want to keep writing
the way my old cat
trails me to the kitchen
and sits by his bowl
as I pour a second cup of coffee

Breakfast an hour ago so
he is not starving
nor frantic with need
But he is willing
ready to keep himself
ready
half awake and
ready
in case another
bowl of food or
small poem
happens along,
one of those hectic
impromptu visits
someone may
or may not
notice may or may not
take enough time
to write down