Renga
By Jenifer Dorsey-Ferris, Mary Johnston-Parker & Ruslan Garrey
A grape rolls
Like an eye
Not blinking
Empty water glass
Waits for more
Summer hovers, curious
Buzzing bounty
From its ruby throat
The heavy words come
Great vines grow out
Pink geraniums battered by stormy night
Hang solemnly
Under an achromatic sky
Elf in the window
Ticking sun
Darkness blows by
The smell of dusty fields
Going to sleep
A breath turns in
And hangs
Delicate strength of petals
Then, their falling out:
Food for flies
The leap
Then the glance from the shoulder
Branches battered by the rain
Saturated leaves of green
in sunlight, kissed
Robin in the pensive yard
Looking for his worm
A sigh
Recognizes
All that shall unfold
A picnic blanket unfurls in plaid
Two picnickers settle in
A scavenged torch
To stir the fire
And deify the moon
Red fabric poppy
Upon my desk, a memory
Desk pushes up
Against sore elbows
We are tired
Ceremony: intention
And the big bang
News feed
Multiple screens displayed
All empty
Low library bookshelves
Echo two whispers
Granite resounding
The expanding of air
In an old amphitheater
Away we go
On a blue sky morning
The wall fades
As I turn
Its smooth corner
A mirror, a truth
An image absorbed
Dried yucca shell
Juxtaposed with fresh lilies
Brings balance
Scales tipped
By a feather from the fruit bowl
Promise of motion:
Bird and its morning escape
Oblong freedom of a rolling grape
Leaves grow still
Until the wind returns
Flies return, too
So does the husky
He is eating grass
Clouds hang
Above a brick landscape
In the courtyard
A sapling grows taller,
Trembling with its worth
Gold coins
Weigh down the arm
Drops of rain
Pool on balcony planks
Reflecting an overhang
Sun upon waking:
A peach
Oblong plastic shoe
Bends into a step
Then reconsiders
Fingers rest
Upon plastic keys
Duly noted
A language transcending
Dichotomy
Silence broken by an air conditioner
And a porch light
Sun sinks into Sunday night
Cheers break stagnancy
Runners cross the threshold
Breathing the festival air
Of reprieve’s homecoming
Mutterings cling to lips
Upon hearing footsteps
That bring news
Home holds
A stillness
Before the flurry
Ball requests
Accoutrements in flight
The sparrow
Shoots onto a seed
Between grass blades
Napping cat
Begins a gentle day
Familiar wisdom
Sharpens night vision,
Thumps its tail
Paws outstretched
Claws in the dirt
Light bathes the wall
Near black obsidian
Resting on black table
Coolly the lake reflects stone
Ancient library of seasons
Frogs serenade the darkness
Summer nights
Begin to wane
Five children ask
Do you want this puppy?
Warmth denies
Its ending
Brisk coyote, running late
Squirrel scampers by
On his erratic path
The road is black and still
Like a river
Nobody coming
Crickets chord the underbrush
Bird in the willows
Tarnished penny hides
Beneath the clutter
Make a wish
Coins in a bowl
Jangled by keys
The argument dissolves
Dirt and soap
Splashing in the tub
Morning air stings
Bare feet on the lawn
A plant is dying
By the window
Soil is dry
Cup on the counter
Feigning routine
A man walks
A brisk pace
Along the creek path
Reddish streams of water
On a parched riverbed
Through the door
Propped open with an empty chair
A yellow leaf
Unlit candle
Where is the flame
Punishing sun
Hidden behind branches
Melting away
The moon transforms
Her audience
Milky sky
Like a soft blanket
Comforts
Birds build a city
In a tree
With all his clatter
The grasshopper lifts himself
Above the ground
Golden-hued child
Watches with wonder
Green eyes roll
From east to west
Mirroring a smile
At the table
Pages turn
Fingers pause
What to write next
Is always the question
Imagining a wrinkled ancestor
To ask
Taped to
The dormant screen
A calendar of monkeys
An alarm sounds
Somewhere, panic
The TV is blaring
Someone is inside
Uninvited
The red house rests
On granite
Spider skitters
Down a rotting log
Life still resides here
A milkweed grows
In a pavement crack
For all her flitting,
The late-season monarch
Must finish her work
Aspens shimmer
Like sequined gowns
Wash a dog’s face
After he fought the cat
And got cut up
Morning windstorm
Shakin’ it
Chilly air streams
Through doorway seam
A shiver
A man lays down his pipe
To pick up a pen
Into the dishwater
Slides the empty plate
Liberated from use
Ripened plums piled
Like a treasure
A man stands over a wooden bowl
With apples and oranges
Hand wavering
The wrist supporting
A bracelet of eyes
Strewn about the air
Notes of a song
Trailing
A brown bed
To crawl into
The child dives in
And lands, straightforward
Aligned against the wall
Awake, she thinks
for a minute
Sleepy wafts pulse
From the ceiling fan
Onto eyelashes
Heater campaigns
for re-election
Bedsheet hammock
For a cat
Suspended between dangling legs
A muscled man pushes a gaunt man
Playfully in a field
Clearly
A window reflects the lamp
That never sleeps
Crumbled golden leaves
Dance in the wind
Insects sing in a tree
The branches bounce
Stars shine through
Orion lifts his bow
Following his muses
She strolls a path
Illuminated
Midnight whispers secrets
A cone put back on a dog
Who is almost recovered
The party does not dance
The day of the dead
And their donations
Upon the altar
She leaves marigolds
Somebody on the throne
Head down, awaiting to be pulled, teased
And flattered
The wind, a bitter queen
Scrubs the willows pink
Metal on metal
He builds
Dissonance in the air
The whistling wind
And the mirror by the window
Morning froze the footprints
In remembrance of young heroes
Their parents’ testimony
Drumming chants rise
Rhythm travels
Footsteps push on
The mask pulled onto the face
Traps precious heat
Peace
Rearranges the furniture
Drifting snow blows
Crumbling geraniums
In a seasonal vendetta
The last leaves apologize
"Goodbye"
The heart of the tree
Holds on
Life’s naked, dormant will
Crow gazes
Beyond what my eyes can see
The last patch of snow
On yellow grass
Begs for a footprint
The cat acrobat
Leaps
Morning shadows
Cast on brick and steel
Dance
A boy holding a branch
Swings down from a barrel
The pen insists upon rhetoric
Its ins and outs
Anticipating drama
Prayer flags flutter
above a broken table
Lights on the oil rig
Shimmer to the sandcastle
Across night waves
The pine tree bends
From air he learns resistance
Open roadway
Cuts through golden plains
Where cattle roam
Sleep comes here, too
Under the mountain of sheets
In darkness the light
Celebrates a parade
Of the present
A dark match
Once glowed
After writing a cruel story
A man rests in red light
His dog won’t sleep by him
Crushed candy cane
For texturing chocolate
A lone tear
Finds its path
Down her cheek
The tiny dot in couch leather
Where her elbow was
Bag stuffed full
Then knotted
The seam begins to rip
Lamp sets window aglow
Under impenetrable gray sky
The ghosts walk the mesa
Cloaked in moonlight
Reflected by the snow
Day in the dark:
The harried road melts
Dark-maned Arabian grazes
Afoot on frozen fields
Behind a tattered fence
Dirt shows through
The veil of powder
While dusting pictures
Of a bride
The news, its explorations
Alone she sat
In a sunlit stream
Driving the poorly lit highway
The husband came home
To an empty house
On the counter
A blooming, dead snapdragon
Wrinkled hand extends
Toward crumpled paper
A revision
The light is red
The lamp is tired
Through the window
Water wonders
Take a chance?
Mountains erupt from the skyline
Like jagged teeth
Nearby
A duck is floating
On an partly iced lake
To afternoon’s bluster
Grasses wave
Hot air balloon suspended
Over bovine fields
Unbeknownst proximity
The angsty car noise
Tires in the night
To the black ice
Of morning
Sun and steam
Empty park bench
Summons the lonely
The forgotten anger
Of the trash bag
Stuck under a plastic grey bench
From under the bed
A ball
Dark sky approaches
Like a mood
Foreboding
Muscles underneath grass
The prairie flexes
Next to the weathered lantern
The glove awaits
A hand
A lover’s gesture
Extended in red carnations
The heavy hand
Undressed from its green burden
Meets a paw
Shell in the sunlight
Behind, a mountain of cloud
Orange calcite
Held in dreams
Like joy remembered
The icicle marks an arc
Thrown to the fence
To fling a dagger
At the moon
And reinvent the storm
Hummingbird sips nectar
Like a thought, fleeting
The brass cat
Waits patiently
To ring
Restless to open
Window and its screen
Atop the roof
A hammer pounds
As though to prove its point
The quiet airplane
Like a whale in opaque clouds
Red sun announcing
Purple light
Above the corrugated waves
Gnat on a windowpane
Traverses a world
Humid air stretches
Yellow beams
From streetlight to candy wrapper
New white shoe
Points its toe downward
The wounder’s whip
Strikes as words of reprimand
For a poorly run exercise
Fresh paint dries
In sunlight fading
His pupils grow
The telltale sign
Of cat's imagination
Grass blades tremble
Before the whirring push-mower
The scent of pine lingers
In the nostrils
Nostalgia
Jealously snow clings
To spring’s beginnings
The tree stretches its arms
Leaves sprawl out in the wind
Like tiny sails
Bumblebee dances
Around a flower in bloom
To kill
The invisible man
A mockingbird
The footprints
Erased by rain
Churchbells chime
Marking the hour
To come and soon pass
Water rises
Reaching for the bridge
Incoming thunder
Confuses birds
Confounds the wind
Orange poppies burst
Through relentless raindrops
Finally song sinks in
The garden offers its
golden opinion
The bird hides
In the hole below the roof tile
The night arrives
Like a blanket falling
Over the city
Bed protecting
The fevered child
The breath comes strained
Like a barking dog
It just needs to happen
Sparrows cross
In flight
Like a dance
Leaf by leaf
The shade unfolds
The bleeding dog
Lays in the stream
And drinks
Seashells summon
A memory of peace
In thanks
The cat leans in
And shares his chair
Two dogs bark
Then just wind and air conditioners
A dove coos
On rooftop perched
As though unseen
Curious bell
Crouching in the grass
The tendrils regrow
More radiant than ever
With redder flowers
Orange vested workers walk
Two astride, conversing
Crows overhead
Back and forth
As clouds accumulate
The insane friend speaks loudly
Of living in a windmill
Coffee drips
Like a promise
About to be fulfilled
Finally summer
Sing nesting wrens
The furry dog
Teaches its puppy
To hate the husky
Purple clouds
Become indigo streams
The tension of water
through the gap
between boulders
Gentle boat oar
Pushes water funnels
Sun showers
On concrete field
Like joy upon us
Will drumming raise
This dormant hoop?
Clouds glow
Over humming grass
The night is wakeful
A burst of light
The voice of reason
To gather
And rinse
The potent fruit
Four kiwis and a grapefruit
Wait in a white tub
Clanging metal wakes
Men at work
Before dawn breaks
The sun, the clouds
In fierce debate
The lantern moon
Almost stills the blossoms
Shuddering on the fence
Sun-drenched waters
Cool buoyant bodies
Then night must lift
Into its eye
The day’s residual orange
The tendrils grow hands
Short trees salivate
His paws tread
Like kneading dough
Domesticated
Blue jay watches
Intention enter this house
The nurse steps back
And hums
Vacillating as a reed
A golden leaf emerges
Branches cue the change
The hillside breathes in
As day illuminates
The stand
Pines stand hinting:
An abandoned road
Cotton strands float
Across bluebird ocean
Overhead, a whisper
A golden streak
The star burns to death
Minute by minute
Shadows envelope
The season’s muted light
Amber needles pop
From vibrant evergreen
An oak whispers
Half disrobed
Naked limbs reaching out
Finding fortune
Like a river
Geese in tandem fly
With wings cutting air
Like scullers’ oars
A metal table rests
On a chair
On a leash
Enthusiasm navigates
A bench, its cornered map
Dried flowers stand awaiting
A return to life
Beyond glass pane
A still world
Dressed in indigo
The present wrapped
Beside the door
A tower lurks
Below it a dumpster
With Marylin Monroe’s face
Sunshine casts diamonds
Upon a turquoise sea
In line
The white cars rest
Their muted glare
The blinding sunset
Colors the pasture with death
Expansion waits beyond
Narrow window blinds
Like freedom waiting
Pinecone rolling
Among debris
The verse comes
As a cat in the evening
Free from expectation
Blue sky peeks
Through undulating clouds
Out the door
Across the yard
The cat escapes
The moon gets lost
On the road in the clouds
Morning breaks
Without the sun
But snow densely falling
River melting
Moving target
Searching for blood
Traversing the lake
Teeth as white as the swan
Fingertips stroking
Cloudy jade segment
Restocking the counter
Speaking of sensitivities
And polygons
TV in an abandoned house
Channel: "Wherever you left it"
Stars on red carpet
As if in orbit
Not of this world
A hole, a ball
Expanding balloon
A man walks smoking
Looking for a place
At which to turn back
He shuffles, nervously
Waiting to know
Hidden within the deck
The knight’s shallow breathing
To unbury the ace
Pink-grey sky awakens birds
Thousands of hellos
Desert sage
Like a carpet outstretched
A soul to roam upon
Perspective lifting
Riding thermals
A bramble converts
Into a rosebush
Filled with toads
Heart-shaped cloud
Aloft as my soul
The lighted way
for protection against
the rain, its news
Floating away on a breeze (a kite)
The monitor of streetlamp
Siren blares
In the distance
Like a cry released
Will the atom
Keep its charge?
The sky screams
Its radiant blue torn
At a small black seam
Beyond this view
Hidden places
Like secret worlds
Pine tree sways
its dappled shade
By moving branches
Hangs a brown spider
Growing fatter
Lightning pierces skyline
Like pulsing veins electrified
The trees screech
Cicada songs
Strike like a punch
Creek feeling low
But still moving
Crisp white sheets
Like linen nest
For sleepy kitty
A half-full jar of jam
Does he dare indulge?
From tree to tree
From seed to berry
Squirrel scampers on the wire
They give chase
Across steel railing
Like high-wire acrobats
Asleep in tree branches
Animals are content
The morning’s gloom
Must summon light
And raise the crooked blinds
Half rainbow appears
Like a whimsical rocket
A crystal ball shines down
The pastures weighed with fog
Humidity pushes the morning; heavy
Bustling cart
Completed projections
The spiders are dead
Dead on sidewalks
Autumn inkblots
Contents strewn about
A life on full display
In muted windows
Holiday lights glow pink
Against the fervent storm
Red leaves waver
A breeze: time to die
Terracotta smoothed
By waves and time
Like a soul
Heat banging
In the pipes
Trees sleep
Beneath branches of stars
Scattered by clouds
Time bends
Into memory
Tiny rubber band
Within its clutches offers
A gathering of herbs
Sun lays to rest
Into water
Extinguished
A glass sits
Half full
Pink party glaring
And willing to fight:
Do not overturn
A solemn reminder:
A shooting star
Peony buds blush
Ready to emerge
Sensual
Sticky stigma
Slender style
Dirty oatmeal bowl
Collecting water
The spoon waits
Soft blue butterflies
Mingle flirtatiously
Racket ready:
A comment
Double bounces
Explosions of pink blossoms
On the hillsides
X marks the spot
A reminder:
You are here
Between a lattice fence,
A flowered branch
Ghosts lost in foggy trees
Moonbeams rot in puddles
Stars peer, move, and hum
Springtime snow
Winter lover won’t let go
Couch slouching
Toward the fan
Keep it cool
A man walks
Rain pours in field
Crickets chirp
To harmonizing frogs
Like a summer chorus
Doubt dancing
Tension’s surface
The steeple points north
To poke the eye of the sun
Furry-eared cows blink
The siren’s horn
an exclamation
Murmuring foreign streets
A familiar language is spoken
Adolescents pose for photographs
Autumn commences
We hold our breath and wait
Morning’s silence
Parenthesis for
Traveling geese
Bell tower punctures sky
A distant knell
Her hair tangled
Like a golden crown
With thorns
Each word a light
Up on the string
A calm rain
A quiet friend
Foggy stars
A tree to outcompete
The brick
Two ghastly headlights
Disappear in thicket
Under beaming bushes
Mountaintops hidden
Cloaked in clouds
Captured
Water falls back down
A perfect sphere
Spring pounces
A cat with green eyes
The star: an impostor
Teasing the family’s fire
Within its grate
Highway winding
A snake in the forest
Thinking about
The next move as if
This is a game
Hovering eye
Pyramid of illusions
Satellites traverse the sky
An unseasonably cool night
Crickets converse
Green frog poised
Like anticipation
Orchards red; sundown
Moon like an eye
Shines down
Early wind
Dispersing gold
Fluttering leaves
Like confetti
From the earth
Defying autumn
Grass still whispers, green
In the meantime, broth
Stirring of sediments
Stewing of bones
Waves ebb and flow
Caressing the soul
White fields
Marble castle of trees
Approach at will
Morning points
Its tilted hat
Boxes emptied
Then refilled
Life’s teeter totter
Struggling through the night
Grey beard barely attached
Arc of a door lamp
Revelry of birdsong
Darkness gives way
Gentle spring evening
White tree swaying, brook gurgling
Lone car on highway
Light stretches
Through half-drawn curtains
A roiling sky
A flippant bird
A cat sleeps upside down
Smoke obscures the satellite dish
It is always tracking the night sky