bare branches
a coyote howls
into the wind

waiting in the room
with the plaster skeleton —
early winter

death watch —
clouds connect the sky
one end to the other

cemetery garden
rain falls on
plastic leaves

biting cold —
moonlight on the nail heads
of the old fence

we pass
humming different tunes
winter moon

long illness
unfolding someone’s
dog-eared pages

winter night . . .
father’s last words
never come

feather in the grass . . .
I grieve for a friend
I never met

hail melt
a lizard skin shimmers
on the broken wall