the storm has arrived
enough to bring shrieking youth
joy none of us find
yet the lake beckons
with its endless, silent joy
should we ask for more?
or live like ancients
who treasured every birchbark
for the life it gave?
love
Road Trip 2019: Day Eighteen, Ely
an Ely day trip
for a family pic, hike
a little shopping
Road Trip 2019: Day Seventeen, Red Sunrise
red sun, glassy lake
paddling with the puppy:
perfect lakehouse day
Road Trip 2019: Day Eight, Lake Superior
Superior beach:
like the ocean without salt
great for paddling
kite flying kids
will remember these beach days
so different than home
Road Trip 2019: Day Six, Gitchi Gami
you haven’t ridden
over the Rockies; not yet.
Superior wins.
with a pup and girls
(unread itinerary)
we biked thirty clicks
Minnesota wins
for elevation record
on these little legs
and to end it all:
waterfall, campfire, cheese.
who would ask for s’more?
Since Second Grade
best friends forever
no continent can destroy
the love they have built
Stand Up. Paddle.
my oldest happy?
so hard for me to earn now.
worth every penny.
Wear Him Out
backpacking with dog:
sudden hailstorm brings frenzy
of dirt-rolling wash
The Endless Cycle
shooting aftermath:
AP testing in mid-June
for suburbanites
the gun’s reach has wrath
stretching fifteen miles south
of where my home is
they shuffle in, grin;
calculators, pens ready
for a number game
but they’re missing one,
his seat echoed in “thank-yous”
as they shuffle out
they are just children
trying to grow up and catch
the world’s beauty
my tires spin home,
the grey ponds reflecting love
i cannot give them
Broken Blossoms
life lived in moments
from crises to remedies
(one day’s event course)
broken cars and drains
cannot break twenty-one years
of kept promises
so let’s build fires
to burn the losses of life
and collars of hope
because even pup
knows how to tolerate pain
as peonies pop
Step Write Up 