Written July 27, 2023. Posted August 7 2023.

Monsoon

Lights out, lightning blazing. Lances of light across the night sky, forged in the heart of a storm.

The thunderheads we saw on the way back from the post office met the hot winds and have finally borne fruit.

My mother, the dog, and I sit on the couch, listening to the rain on the roof and the roaring of the storm.

A bolt of lightning tears the sky, silhouetting a saguaro swaying in the storm wind.

The dog, hackles raised, stares at shadows dancing across the far wall, on the lookout for ghosts.

Written March 31, 2022. Posted and edited August 7 2023.

The Date Palm

Precipice above the city,
from the palm, fronds so pretty,
tumbles to the ground a date.

Once revered in ages past,
finds itself now miscast,
planted for a decorative fate.

Fallen down, on the sidewalk,
treasured by feather and flock
beneath many soles, tread into paste.

Do those who step upon you,
not realize what you could do?
Can they even imagine your taste?

A chrysalis, a potential tree,
few realize what you could be.

An ingredient, sugary and sweet,
crushed upon the ground, along the street.

Written November 2 2017. Posted and edited August 7 2023.

Hermit Crab

The hermit crab in the tide pool
With his tiny shell
His shelter, his home
Among the rocks and weeds
Bordering the open ocean
Not knowing of the deep
Dwarfed by the whale shark
A speck next to the blue whale
Insignificant to every other creature
Insignificant to the ocean
But to the little hermit crab
His shell is everything