EXPECTING

She basks in the roundness of her tummy,
        pliant fingers absently tracing its spherical profile
                as if searching for imperfection.

Two cardinals feed on the lawn,
        oblivious to the figure in the window
                who exhales with the ease of evaporating dew.

The two birds flutter, fly off like excited tourists.
        She watches them disappear beyond the rooftops
                while counting the pangs inside her tummy.

SHALLOW WATERS

You are not deep
at all

You slosh
around the ankles

A negligible substance
of thin consequence

More of an annoyance
with studied inconvenience

When exposed to the heat
of a new day

You will
evaporate

LEAVES

Wherever we looked there were leaves…

leaves like ancient parchment that would
dissolve at your touch
wet leaves the color of earthworms
leaves, monochromatic and spikey
leaves of rust and dew
stacks of leaves, mounds of leaves
mildewed and insect-ravished leaves
leaves rotted by the rain
and shriveled like dyspeptic
old men baked by the sun
drifting leaves, whirlpooling leaves
leaves in gutters and clotted sewers
burning leaves, their gray plumes
wafting over rooftops
raked and bagged leaves
decaying leaves reduced to mulch
leaves pressed between the pages of books
to mark a memory or phrase
leaves adrift on river currents
to be carried off to destinations
known only to leaves