Young believers passing by--

young believers passing by

the bloody emblem of our foes

strongly we led

bravely we die

the anxious dead

will not deny

us

they; the cause

they come behind

a silent mist of voices

the bodies lie where they are found

their spirits rise above the ground

to whisper forth: our liberty!

is worth all deaths and tears

is worth the ash-scarred sky

beyond the blackened trees

(I believe this is the result of reading John McCrae's poetry, a variety of nonfiction about world war II, and a bunch of dystopian science fiction concurrently. I don't recommend the mixture)

Isolation

raindrops click

from trees

onto the sodden ground

meowing quietly

a grey kitten passes

misty grey

rain-sky grey

upon the blueless lake

shimmers

the rain suddenly rushes

then returns

to its

dripping

refrain

9/12/98

Rustling--

Rustling

like rain on grass

the cottonwood dances

bows

in the wind.

laughing with the stormy sky

the horizon

darkening

softening

the whisper

of wind on the leaves remains.

Two Birds

Two birds

black shadows in the evening

swoop across the golden sky.

They alight on the telephone wires

and lightly touch

wings

beaks

bodies

then swirl away into the blazing sun.

Darker than dark--

Darker than dark

the incandescent rays lie humped and cold.

I crush them with my feet

and they pour out

                             (freely, unasked)

sticky globules of shining light.

2-18-2000

(no, I didn't write this after I stepped on a slug barefoot. Which, by the way, is an experience never to be forgotten)