As Natalie leaves for college (2000)

two leaves cling to the branch
of a tree
(tossed by the wind)
shone in the sun

from afar a mass of green
leaves bends and boughs in the sun
all part of the same branches
the same tree
the same orchard

from afar we see that two
leaves on a farther branch
jut out from the tree

two leaves growing so close
but never touch
whose green veins carry
the same blood

the two leaves so closebut never
touching dancing
but not with the tree
are both swept by the wind
in the same instant
tossed in circles in the air
then land on the ground

but on opposite sides of the tree--

Two word play poems (circa 1998)

changes each anything
crashes harms life heaven
breaks time patiently
on,in,it floats seeing
life hopes

---------------------

little pieces
strike sunlight
down, to never get up
don't breathe
breathed god
who's people strike sunlight
down, to never get up

To Sydney- upon her trip to Hungary

She twirls tussles of hair
around one lonely finger-
exhale

And doesn't know what to do
it's all a pattern-- she reminds herself
We're too old to be so disaffected, too
young to be so complacent-
One more day, another year-
"One day when we're out of high school..."
you complete the sentence...
And now we're there-- with weathered faces
we barely recognize in pictures

No more patient naviete, no more
late night pizza.
we're on planes going god knows where
We're in people infested apartments and roach
infested streets.

Sometimes someone somewhere laughs like you and all
I can do is turn my head.
a girl, overdressed, with too much makeup
-- shorn-- from head to toe--
more plastic than this town she's in
She has no right to laugh like you.

Sometimes I look in all the wrong
places for someone
who laughs at 90mph
in a car
going no place special.