Apologia

Tomato garden, cicadas, big green 

Golden beetles hurtling against screen door.

Five o’clock thunder.  Bumble bees bumbling 

Secrets under porch.  Orange mint, squirrels, 

Chamomile oasis.  Rock Creek, Glover 

Park, moist green heat, DC humidity—

Snake skin man—an atmosphere of power, 

Gaudy affluence, brilliant lily 

Tigers.  Crows pick through trash with care, looking

For better choices.  The paradise of 

Klingle Road—hidden—regrets that nudge each 

Other from the nest, those toadstools in the 

Hollow tree, where wasps wrestle cicadas 

Down into stillness, grief’s sound.   Despair, of

Solace uncertain, casts about for home, 

Some tangible sign of consolation,

Reassurance’s measure, the motion 

Of words’ ripples’ spiral and shimmer.  In

The dark, walking Connecticut uphill,  

Cool fall air creeping in, did you know how 

Much?  There was no need as now there is. I

Try to forget the rest, those long cold months.