Best Valentine Date

vaccine Valentine 
does love get any better
than this science?

Grateful Girls

a small chance to win
with what small time we have left
these teenaged smiles

she's eighteen too soon
my oldest baby, my star
i hope she'll go far

i am not here now
forever staring at screens.
i am here. on skis.

The last run.

i’ll grasp this aspen 
framed by its own starry night
when i need some peace

an exhausting day
with my spirit-week “jersey”
and this fake smile

hidden by these masks
that have broken our world
like a rootless orchid

but this cat. this cat.
a soft purrfection presence 
worth a real grin.

my baby skiing 
breaking my heart in these trees
(not such a baby)

she skis black diamonds
from the top of the mountain 
to her mama’s soul

i'll write a haiku
as easy as this damn day
filled with lines. and love.

you will never know
how hard i've tried to earn this.
you can taste the snow.

you can taste blue sky.
it comes in moments, this love.
moments found on slopes.

a powder escape
from the harsh reality
of everyday life

powder power pulls
relentlessly through the snow
bringing us to light

not what i had planned
(before we were so broken)
yet bright, all the same