a stand of pines
               shadows
of my old sorrows

New Year's Day
my mother refreshes
her old complaints

saint
valentine's
day
a white rose and chocolate kisses
from
the
un
believer

happy hour
   the bartender cashes
      my unemployment check

sequoia that fell
long before my birth
the path around it

her son gone to war
thin hands translucent
in windowlight

getting acquainted
beneath the hair color
the roots

fingers still sticky
from cotton candy
we hold hands

family reunion
I give the embers
one more poke