Tanka

(C) R.L.K.

1.
How strange , after all
these years, to think of her now,
just because the wind
is warm and the moonlight is
pouring down through the young leaves.

2.
Just one of those days:
sitting here on the porch with
little to do but
watch the sky turn hazy blue
after the rain ends.

Listening to "The Last Mile Home"

(C) R.L.K.

It is a Saturday morning and a soft rain
is falling on the grass in your grandparents’ yard.
Your bicycle, leaning against the old shed, will be ready
when the time comes (for surely the rain will stop falling
and there will always be time to ride laughing
through the countless tree-lined streets). For now,
there is the big chair on the porch to sit on,
there are the shapes of the clouds passing by,
and there is that sweet melody you hear
coming from the radio in the kitchen, and you,
and the people you love, are humming along.

Winter Fragments

(C) R.L.K.

1.
Morning radio
Bleats the news that is no news.
Wind rattles the panes.

2.
A few white snowflakes fall
On a few black trees.
Someone has gone away.

3.
Chilly night.
A weary moon drags itself
Across a cloud-ragged sky.

One More for the Old Philosopher

(C) R.L.K.

This possible world is the real world,
For now, and nothing but the world of things
Experienced every day-- this world
In which we move and have our being.
Ask this: can this possible world possibly
Be improved by imagining it improved?
Think of those moments, as in the morning,
When the shadows of pine trees
Patch the hillside grass. Think
Of those moments, as in the evening,
When moonlight glistens on the rooftops.

Back Then

(C) R.L.K.

[For Gloria]

We were as innocent as we were going
to be, that cool windy day, standing
on the shore, watching the fog blanket
the distant city, knowing that the sound
of the surf was beautiful, needing nothing more.

Saying Goodbye

(C) R.L.K.

["For her soul and the souls of all
the faithful departed..."]

What is there now? This damn damp weather,
this too-gray morning soon to be lost,
the space in a world that is emptier,
and the silence inside this funeral car
while broken raindrops slide down the windows.

Cinqku

(C) R.L.K.

1.
empty
moonlit beach -
for a moment
the evening is merely
itself

2.
color
of a cloud,
lost flying ghost
of sadness: the gull in
winter

3.
tonight
a cold wind,
and once again,
a sense of the old coat's
thinness