Best friends for now

Hard to imagine that it's only been four and a half years

when she arrived in this world, with no idea about

friendship or love, about holding hands and walking

down a street with her bestie.

We don't know if this particular friend will endure

next year or next week, even, as friends seem to flow through

our lives like sand through fingers that open under a 

different sun, on a different day, but this day,

their hands embraced, no doubt shared secrets 

and whispers, little girls on a walk in the neighborhood,

mom or dad close behind, but out of earshot. 

Watching the Democratic National Convention with pneumonia

what else to do but watch sideways, the right lung

unhappily compressed, the right ear buried in a pillow.

I cannot hear or breathe very well, but I can see 

the wide smiles and exuberant gestures, my peeps

have come alive, in spite of my deteriorated state, I

am buoyed by their hope and joy.  

I would not have seen this wonder if my lung were happily

gathering oxygen molecules from the incoming breath,

instead I would have been working or gardening, laughing

or lifting weights towards the grey tiles of the gym.

Sideways and deaf, but my heart lifting with joy.

Forest bathing in Costa Rica

the leaf invited me to hold her in my hand

to notice her fine leaf structure next to mine,

how the light captured her raised ridges,

each encircling its own small landscape.

the lines on my hand run over the edges

into the forest air, like rain off an

umbrella.

we recognized each other in appreciation but

I know that she will stay here, as she happened to be,

folded in half over a newly formed branch,

and I have to follow the lines which cascade off

of my hands towards some unknown future. 

when I looked up I did not see the Moon

I thought he was pointing to the Moon,

but a monkey was in the way, and the clouds were 

obstructing the view anyway, it was daytime,

for Goodness Sake. but wait....

I do see the Moon sometimes during the day, 

a sliver of white, or maybe more, but it wasn't there

on the impossibly steep gravel road leading down

the beach,

And it was so hot, and the sweat ran down my back

and the monkey just ignored us, prancing across the 

power line, Moon or no Moon

did not interest her.

Turkey vultures circling the sky

I can't see my town, but I see them

Circling up and up in the grey and acrid sky,

their black silhouettes criss-crossing upwards 

pathways slashing up and across each others,

magic black dots wavering in the infernal

sky, this infernal sky of smoke and ozone

and death, these birds, vultures, seeking death

for sustainance, while I rush down the hill

seeking life.