Alphabet

on a wayside stone

secret little alphabet

only lizards read

Monet

Once in a blue moon

all the paintings of Monet

are cloaked in darkness.

escape from sunrise—

descending to the valley

from the mountaintop

climbing the mountain

to catch a glimpse of sunrise—

thermos full of tea

more than twenty years

of naps in the afternoon—

her placid snoring

a ravenous crow

homing in on its next snack—

hapless ladybug

origami frog

made of a checkered napkin

from the pizza box

leaking its fragrance

a lily of the valley

flattened by the storm

my strawberry field

smothered with frost this morning—

a house wren’s keening

the jasmine seller

dancing homeward at day’s end—

pebble in her shoe