Wave and Water
After desire leaves
Flames of contemplation
Sputter and die out.
What replaces the flight of birds?
In steady rain where
Do they travel?
Now is only looking.
Memory is not to be trusted.
Clouds eventually empty.
Dreams of the misbegotten,
So many raindrops on sand,
Sea, lost in air, in nothing.
We are such it seems—
Ephemeral, colourless, benign
Demarcations then and now.
Along River Shore Drive
Yellow leaves
Dropped by sunlight,
Wind
Fall
From gecko trees
And panic
Like ticks
On
Pavement.
First Southern Snow
Snow
Soft as cotton
Falls
On the edges
Of gardenia
And azalea leaves
My in breath
Is youth,
Life’s bounty.
My out breath
Here, now
Is found love.
[su_panel background=”#f2f2f2″ color=”#000000″ border=”0px none #ffffff” shadow=”0px 0px 0px #ffffff”]Joseph Lisowski, Ph.D., has taught at several colleges and universities; most notably, Duquesne University, Point Park College, the University of the Virgin Islands (St. Thomas serves as the setting for his three published detective fiction novels), J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, and Elizabeth City State University. He has also taught at the Virginia State Penitentiary.