you can feel the heat
creeping into the photo
burning from within

you can feel the heat
creeping into the photo
burning from within

i used to write poetry
broken lines, imperfect syllables, heart
so hard so imperfect so fucking bright
like the blue sky trying to break through and taunt a hailstorm but instead instead
instead
it's just ice
not the rain we needed to cool us in a heatwave
just ice
tearing through my well-tended garden
stealing the blue sky
steeling the blue eye
and ruining me
eighteen long months late,
we celebrate our friendship
of thirty short years

she survived COVID
now, we're both vaccinated
to celebrate love

what a perfect place
green grounds, infinity pool
for endless friendship

summer garden joys:
second of many salads
grown and cut by me

family tradition:
plant trees for graduates
and watch how they grow



my mother's tree stands
at my great-aunt's former home
taller than us all


my sister's tree shades
disappearing middle-class
(our childhood home)

and my tree shocks me
evading the ash borer
with grandiose grace

thank you for the “no.”
as phallic as this lupine
(allium ignored)

i will learn from this
(things i tell myself at night)
and grow a sagebrush

it will bloom purple
(you can’t see my true color)
and you can’t taste it

yet, here it blossoms
as beautiful as the home
you constantly loathe

i know. i know. i…
you don’t see what i see. stop.
but god. how it hurts.

these rare teen moments
everyone together; joy
minus jobs, school, stress


summer days beckon
drinks on rooftop patios
(mocktails for the kids)

the cold creek calls us
with shade, icy refreshment
from the sun’s harsh heat

and these cousins bond
under summer vacation
(our home is their heart)

sunset’s golden light
shines brighter in the mountains
with my perfect pup

an eight-mile walk
through Colorado’s beauty
even before blooms


