When a patronizing email awaits you first thing on a Monday morning, but something brilliant in the sunrise won't allow you to give it the sort of energy that might bring you down.

I nodded through your

patronization, and set

my coffee cup on the desk.

Sunshine was creeping west

through the house rows

as frost shone on rooftops

silver like something precious,

something rare, sagging shingles

an asymmetric work of art.

It wasn't winter yet, nor was it

problematic to be patronized.

I've been here before, I thought,

took another sip and smiled.

Cruise Ship Food Poisoning.

Got a call from an electronic woman

in Kissimmee, Florida tonight who assured me

I'd won a cruise for two.

Having not been born recently, being 

deathly afraid of cruise ship food poisoning,

not to mention my possession of

a general mistrust of all things Florida,

I hung up. Sometimes a robo-call

is just too good to be true.

Sweet Spot

There is a sweet spot

when the freight train

has just passed, and

conversation

has yet to resume -

Looking across

backyards,

belligerent dogs, and

chain link fences

into a rare moment

of utter silence.

Early Lesson in Real Estate

I used to know a place

along our property line

where grape vines curled

overhead in a tube

like a wave break.

The space had size enough

for a few kids secluded,

carpeted with pine needles.

It was a comfortable hideout 

when necessary.

This has become my only

measure of good real estate,

small, soft, fresh smelling,

and few unwanted guests.

I learned it at 8 years old.

Water Water Everywhere and All the Cats Did Sleep.

The rain persisted,

turned downpour.

Our streetlight

went dark.

Leaves in porchlight

cast shadows

like giant spiders.

Three cats

slept easy

as water shook

the downspout.

It rained. We listened.

A Short Poem Regarding Baseball and Saying Goodbye.

There is so much

in the letting go,

I thought to myself,

as a first pitch flew

a few feet above

the batters head.