marlene mountain / cindy tebo

Marlene

a preying mantis holds to the pampas grass a widening wind

maybe a tornado here and there rubble /ct

like art the big pines within their fog

current design all the things a river has to carry /ct

more of the same summer blackberries begin to tinge red

garden of endings these seeds never more than a period /ct

alone i hope if the first tomatoes ever ripen

surrounded by dandelions because I didn't plant them /ct

lonesome to make something in paint rather than in words

doodling to empty myself of all the doings /ct

bones of a turtle within its bleached shell

veins in a rock before my blood ever flowed /ct

shade of the poplars a vampire movie begins just before noon

form of entertainment to step on ants because he can /ct

a little more human today soiled hands

clean and dry skin after the dishwater drains /ct

in cross-examination a different slant doesn't change her dna

because he thought she was dead the only reason she lives /ct

before it bounds the deer snorts right at me

outdoor cafe the rabbit's nose in a twitch of grass /ct

if it quacks like a haiku duck behind a chicken and cross the road

three line want ad but not everyone wanted /ct

name-dropping the wrong names dropped

on death row plenty of shadow and even more doubt /ct

throughout the world americans in danger being americans

freedom together free dom a part /ct

unpaid cops all of us now

police brutality it depends on your viewpoint /ct

on the computer samples of beethoven and bach and 'wassup'

van gogh screen saver all day a starry night /ct

what i intended to say somewhere in what i said

mirror on every wall it's you but then it isn't /ct

vacuum on the old shag waits for someone with gumption

with the flip of the switch a self-cleaning oven and time to dream /ct

rocks from the earth for a path between earths

driven into the ground what falls as rain /ct

'dawn's early light' to beat the heat before it beats me

'for the land of the free' a piece of real estate broken off Antarctica /ct

when not nature-shy i'm merely nature-crazy

poison oak, ivy, or sumac I'm sure they mean well /ct

change of scenery for the toppled irises a fine drizzle to boot

natural arch foot by foot over rock /ct

easier as i go downhill than up

what I missed the first time in my snail again life /ct