Ring around the Year

Once rutty, now flawless,

heavy snow whitewashes the field

under the New-Year moon.

*

Pale on a white silk tablecloth,

condolence cards.


*

A pipe organ’s fading notes—

I escape the theater,

the moon an amber lodestar.

*

Pralines, pumpkin­-spiced latte,

political flyers litter the walkway.

*

Late for a conference keynote,

cab after cab passes me by,

each preferring different customers.


*

Through the park, four women arm-­in-­arm—

an after-hours defense strategy.

*

Along with a stream of cars

glutting the Mackinac Bridge—

a sea of pedestrians.

*

Bees flood my dreams, 

singing all will be our beehive.


*

Policing the county line—

three Albino boxers.

Every bicyclist hounded.

*

Luminaria guide the mourners,

more talk on gun control.


*

The lake sheds its ice.

Crows circle in and out of mist

over the now-exposed deer.


*

A human-sized bird cage—

we sit in it, wishing we could sing.