"Lake Union"


View From An Open Window In Fremont

                                            Windchimes, miniature blue and pink
                                            Chinese pagodas, chink, plink
                                            and sway on my back porch
                                            near bamboo curtains.

                                            They move in the white-blue,
                                            almost still air of spring.

                                            Above the chimes the Aurora bridge-
                                            monumental, concrete gray,
                                            abuts this subtle landscape.

                                            An occasional pedestrian
                                            is silhouetted crossing the bridge.
                                            The cars are few,
                                            it's Sunday after all

                                            and my cats are sleeping.

"Walmer Location, South Africa"


The Shutter

                                         The concrete block houses
                                         covered the hardpacked land.

                                         You had come
                                         to photograph the people.
                                         They wore their cotton best;
                                         used precious water
                                         to clean their children's faces.

                                         When they looked into the camera
                                         they held their breath
                                         so their spirits would not escape
                                         into your shutter.

                                         Three generations of women and no men.
                                         This is the way it ends.

Next