Cinquains

1

Aloofish

hanging
upside down on
the monkey-bars her hair
spills like mocha joe and her eyes
tattle

2

Cat

waiting,
as the dark rubs
against me, I am crouched
on your doorstep in your deepest
shadow

3

Kind thoughts
like sun-powered
dandelion spores drift past
time zones and oceans, birthing new
kind thoughts

4

The Trouble with Being Me

my head
is chock full of
clockparts, springs, and sundry
bankrupt mechanical gizmos
(and thoughts)

5

three wrens
swirl past a limb
on which a squirrel sits
and pauses his grooming to watch
three wrens

6

Waking Egret

white wings
snatch from the sun
Lilliputian rainbows
as she sprawls in the opaline
morning

7

Woman,

I wish
that you were plain
for then only I'd know
the dazzling dimension of your
beauty

8

Tonight

I'd like to slip

a single gardenia

in a green glass vase onto your

nightstand