Unemployed Christmas

Can days be merry
and bright? Jobs – like ornaments –
fragile, out of reach.

Ugly photo

She keeps it displayed
to remind herself that once
she didn’t know it

She watches me…

…create. Impatient
that I won’t pay attention
when I’m writing stuff.

Driving kids to camp

Flat mapped names turn in-
to forested hills, roads wind
towards adventure.

Online debate

Listserv fight breaks out.
Among civil people, the
retorts well-researched.

Not among the 6%

“Let’s go to the beach!”
One kid, online, shrugs as the
other keeps texting.

“In a typical week, only 6 percent of children ages nine to thirteen play outside on their own.”
from The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream by Christopher B. Leinberger

My biggest fan

Directed at me
all day it follows me from
room to room in heat.

Already mid-July

And so summer goes
like fishing line cast into
swift moving waters

Heat wave breaks

Rumbles of thunder
promise that soon fat raindrops
will bring refreshment.

Last days of school

Nobody wants to
be there. Even the teachers
sit, watching the clock.