Don't need no 'told ya 

so,' just a hand to help them 

up to join the fight

A late winter drop

of rain waits for a bud on

a sleeping rosebush 

Sleepers awake, the

thaw has come, so wipe your eyes

and feel the warm sun 

The crow told me: don't 

go on the wing, my friend, for 

the winds will soon change 

Choked with emotion 

and shattered by disease he 

narrates his sad tale 

Asleep standing or

awake dreaming as the world

heedlessly passes

The Republic, now

a toothless hulk, shuffles towards 

its doomed end (perhaps). 

The balloon rises 

up and up, drifting towards

some unknown outcome 

A kind message sent

impulsively to a friend

might change everything  

I dreamed of a dead 

friend who smiled, but said nothing

as she exited 

Fuel for the fire 

ripped from the land to be tossed

into open pits

Take a deep breath, hold 

it in, and then let it go 

(repeat as needed) 

A goldfinch arrived

breaking the monotony 

of the bland gray day

The eagles are gone 

again; is it an omen

or just the season?

Warm laughter with friends

keeps the winter winds at bay 

drives away dark ends  

Choked howls from a fraught

world won't be heard amid all 

the loud diversions  

Cross your fingers or 

pray and wish on a star for

whatever it takes  

Cry foul, said the duck,

bobbing and weaving a new

tale for the whole flock 

The bare trees so stark 

against the new fallen snow

create their own art 

Whitewashed but not clean

just a thin veneer to sway,

convince the masses 

Rome is burning and 

I am fiddling with my tie, 

askew like the world 

Another winter 

storm approaches, but today 

it's sunny and calm.

Monetize, co-opt, 

corrupt, and sanitize, is

how the game is played 

Keep your culture and

leave me to my chipped cup, cheap

bottle, and rough friends 

Change can come quickly

like a slip on ice, or slow

as water carves stone 

The pristine snow so 

white hides the sludgy grime and

deadly ice beneath 

The ice cracks and grinds

under the never ending 

flow of the river 

Quick-to-See is gone, 

an artist who taught us to 

see her people, life