Residue

"Nothing, having arrived, will stay."
--Wendell Berry, "The Slip"

An empty sky is nothing
that was the fan-tail goose.

Gray-cliffed mountains are nothing that was
the bottom of an ancient sea.

A mud meadow and a cold creek
are nothing that was snow.

A square-stone seawall is
nothing that was a fine sand beach.

Fresh furrows of plowed earth
are nothing that was a tall-grass prairie.

A box of pictures
is nothing that was my brother.

Foam

Dark water rises
on the horizon and moves
my way as a wave. Its curling
break launches hectic whiteness
onto the sand. Rushing
cold grabs my feet.
It slows, and thins
as it retreats. On the clear water,
foam breaks into patterned patches
that swirl, then elongate
into figures like those I once saw
from a bus window. One
walks across a parking lot carrying
his lunch bucket. Another bends
to gas her car, her skirt
awkwardly short. A man sits
on the bench, brown hands
on his thighs, staring.
The shapes grow thin. They
dissolve. The wave sinks
into a grave that glistens briefly
as bubbles rise through it,
and I watch with my feet in the sand.

The Snow

builds little mountains
at the edge
of the chicken yard
where the thickening white plain
is fenced in.
Outside
it gets stripped off,
crushed,
and wasted away
by the passing cars on the road.

Evening Star

Why can there not be
a tiny blaze
to shine brighter
than it seems it should,
a last reminder of day.
I would not insist
that it illuminate
to cast shadows
or let me read,
but just to reflect
the lost sunlight,
to let me see again
what the day
I loved was like.

^

Biography

I have been writing poetry seriously for several years, and have studied with Richard Maxwell and Kim Addonizio. I live with my wife Elsa in Silicon Valley, though neither of us works in the computer industry. I am an earth scientist specializing in the hydrology of the unsaturated zone, with applications to groundwater supply and contamination issues. One reason I write poetry is that it lets me be creative without having to worry about research grants, laboratory infrastructure, or milestone reports. .