triptych

a day in summer
rain in the morning                 the sun breaks free, transient                 rain has come again
a warm and calming tempest                   vital, feverish                   but blossoms now are fleeting
wind, a subtle chill                 it presses down, life and death                 cold is on the march
pity the man who fights it.

bile

These are the things, then,
which we self-endowed gods must prize

above our own creations:
Jealousy, Obsequity, Betrayal, Sin
of any sort that suits our affected moods.

My bile is thicker than your blood.

haiku

buoyed in the street—
monochrome chrysanthemums
bound in a bushel

halo

sidestepping broken bottles,
she trudges homeward—
high-heels in one hand,
halo in the other.