Three Poems

 

flying a kite with Katie

swirls
and dives
and swoops
and loops the loop,
a blue and white kite
against a blue and white sky

katie
beside me,
brown on brown,
with white teeth
flashing in laughter
at the glory of the day

she holds the string,
pulls as the kite begins to stall,
lets loose when a gust of summerwind
lifts the kite and takes it toward the clouds

and I hold her,
not so tight, she says,
this is hard to do, she says,
back off so I can concentrate, she says

and I back away
as a great flurry of wind comes,
billows her dress against her back and legs
and she seems to fly like the kite away from me

 

cinnamon dreams

in the dim light
at end of day
I watch you sleep
     still damp
     from the shower
curled on your side
     tangled
in white linen
     pink
     like the center
of a fresh sliced peach
     floating
in a bowl of sweet cream

your foot moves
     slowly
brushes softly against mine

with a quiet rush
     of warm air
      you sigh,
the sweet breath
of cinnamon dreams

 

my lover moves through the night

pale
as sand
under a cloud-veiled moon
my lover
moves through the night
like breeze
on a summer beach

there is the murmur of the evening tide
in her voice as she nears me, singing

aila
aila
shantilla
shantilla
aila

my lover
moves slowly through the night
singing softly
her voice like froth
on the evening tide