empty parking lot
some wind collects and swirls
leaves into a shape
**
alone in the waiting room
checking the plant
for reality
**
in early morning rain
I return
a stranger’s solemn nod
**
everyday she waits
at the bus stop;
just to wait
**
rusted tracks
beside the freeway A man
with a burlap sack
**
under the pine tree
that he chose rain
at his grave
**
my father’s winter
coats still hang
in the closet
**
with friends
I open the fortune cookie
without a fortune
**
taking off my clothes
my heart
closer…
**
in another country
from a flatcar
the Milky Way
**
free spirits…
a year later
they return
**
sidewalk sale-
wind twists a lifetime
guarantee tag
**
x-ray room
they remove
her crucifix
**
myself
monopolizes
me
**
morning zazen
marriage counseling
ourselves
**
train receding
its wake in the grasses
still waving…
**
end to end
three Ramblers take part
in the overgrown field
**
farm auction-
fields filled with asters
and goldenrod
**
cold autumn wind
in all the cracks
eyes of barn cats
**
the tree that rubbed
the house noisily
burns in the fireplace
**
autumn moonlight
folded in
the clothes on the floor
**
meeting her boyfriend
our handshake
out of synch
**
sneaking M & M’s…
the crunching
in my ears
**
wanting my old life
when I wanted
my present life
**
cream in my coffee…
visiting from the next booth
a curious cockroach
**
asleep
in my lap the new kitten
I didn’t want
**
the hypnotist
describes her technique
sound of the stream
**
downpour-
a duck waddles away
from the pond
**
after the party
undressing
myself
**
early morning fog-
in the cereal bowl
the spoon clinks
**
in the prayer bowl
the silence
of dust
**
daybreak frost-
the sound of leaves falling
through leaves
**
calling
for the lost cat…
wind chimes
**
mountaintop:
giving back
each breath
**
the way
rain takes
the mountain
**
after zazen
the ride home
without the radio
**
one tree
one bird, one song
the dusk
**
sunrise frost-
under the maple one night’s scatter
of leaves
**
tom clausen 