Autumn

I should clean a keyboard

dirty from constant use

just as Indians once rubbed buckskin

white with diatomaceous earth

now chlorine tinctured cloths

clean refrigerator rooftops

cleaning time’s detritus away

wiping age from my face

forever

so that I’m young again

strong shouldered

not stumbling

so that I’m hale again

hearty

hawking 

as I stride across a carpet of leaves

fine red cedar needles

a fresh crop since the last rain

Copyright © Dick Russell

       December 2018

Weather Cock

When the west wind blows

each breath inhaling air full of oxygen

straight off the ocean

sometimes from Hawaii
I grow younger

When the east wind blows

I grow older with worry

over blown by a vortex

of contagious contention

impossible to escape

trailing in its wake

when the north wind blows

I can reset my compass

face winter well prepared

clean air from Canada

with no tariff on import

when the south wind blows

coal trains going north

oil trains coming after

then one after another

coal train oil train again
& again

Dick Russell

copyright (C) 2018