the milk drinkers recline
at the head of the bed

one toddler's bare foot resting
on the other's chest

blinds cannot contain
summer's long twilight

or a thousand scratches
on the wood floor

(Search Categories: Poems Poetry Parenting)

high school football lights
illuminate the back yard

two raccoons search for grubs
on the fringe of the lawn

Orion the Hunter slips unnoticed
below the horizon

a rain gauge dismantled
by little hands
continues its wireless signal
throughout the night

(Search Categories: Poems Poetry Parenting)

a prairie falcon lands in the birch tree
with shimmering red flesh in one claw

his gold eye ring set boldly
against the black center of vision

he surveys a world of rectangles
rooftops and wooden fences around yards

and pecks and stretches his meal

(Search Categories: Poems Poetry Parenting)

the big bubble is "up high"

Jesus is "up high"

lah-poh-poh (lawnmower) is "up high"

daddy's coffee cup is "up high"

dental floss is "up hiiiiigh"

Turvey's car is "up high"

the washcloth is "up high"

daddy-boh-boh (w) is "up high"

(Search Categories: Poems Poetry Parenting)

finding tan bark in my son's diaper

the head first plunge down the slide

face into the ground
followed by arching back and legs

punctual silence followed by screams

then crying out for his cement truck
from mother's arms

his baby brother hastily abandoned
on the park grass

like a beetle on its back

(Search Categories: Poems Poetry Parenting)

tree trunks are underwater
at the river's edge

boils appear along the levees

a sign tells me Burger King
has kept the green fringe
of the freeway clean

day by day vineyards vanish
beneath the thick blades of scrapers

cell phone towers mark the journey home

a mockingbird owns the evening and morning air

(Search Categories: Poems Poetry Parenting)

flecks of memory
of the Khumbu in the high Himalaya

borne on a wind of rustling prayer flags
and bells around the necks of yaks

bridges washed away by forgotten monsoons

stone streets that double as streams

smoke filtering through a stone roof
that lacks a chimney

the sage-like smell of burning sunpati
present even when I blow my nose

animals grazing at the door of the tent

dung patties drying in the sun
across large boulders

a single cry from black crows
the only living creatures
at the top of the world

(Search Categories: Poems Poetry Parenting)