hearts.

Cercis canadensis

Beautiful heart-shaped leaves; this plant is one of my favorites. It also has gorgeous pink flowers when it's in spring bloom.

trainspotting.

Slumped on the curb

he stares at ants
congregating near his feet.
They’re curious about
his recent regurgitation
of stomach acids.

I wonder 

what ants would do
with a human degree
of consciousness.

I think
(hope) they would do
something other than
numbing it away with
alcohol and television.

I don't know why
it's so painful
to be conscious,
but I'd like to think
it's worth it.

naiad.

The Moon, lithe naiad

shining a smile for the night,

adrift with grains of fainter light.

She floats and waits, a lily pad

in an inverse sea of stars.

But her smile is a shadow,

and her light – sad reflections

of a far-off sphere;

a waxing, waning, white veneer.

roadside creatures.

entwined.

same ocean, different shore

I don’t want to write

about love anymore

each stanza a painful pleonasm

of how much I miss you

I'd swim the gulf

just to fall asleep once more

together, with knotted limbs

inhaling gentle breaths,

exhaling gentle snores

but for now, at least

I’ll answer midnight calls

half asleep, spewing slurs

across five hundred thirty-three miles

but entwined in futures

love is a star

a commonplace luminescence

in the milky way, and across the universe
born in a bewildering brilliance
and leaves in a supernova hearse

each spin tales of traveling light
that go on after death
and inscribe countless skies with diamonds

love is a star

Suwannee River FL. & St. Louis MO.

"Bob"

Pontederia cordata leaf; inflorescence is below

 The following pictures were taken in St. Louis' Forest Park and Zoo. Both are beautiful places.