All poems

by Rodney Lewis Merrill

Butterfly rose boy

A blue butterfly
Hovers above a white rose;
A small boy moves close.

Bridge love snow

On the covered bridge
Village women speak of love
And sweep freshly fallen snow.

Dragonfly breeze, frog waits

Blue-black dragonfly
skids across moist, sun-warmed breeze;
a blue-green frog waits.

Cricket shadow sun

Shiny black cricket
Dances with its own shadow,
until the sun sets.

Garden women, icy drinks

In the shade garden
Women murmur of sex-love
And sip icy drinks.

Skittering breeze smiles

Parchment scraps and leaves
Skittering on sun-warmed breeze
Makes an old man smile.

Golden moth, white sun

A golden moth warms
slowly in morning's white sun;
then flutters away.

Mud shelter

A handmade mud hut
Stands with soaked oak and cedar;
inside, all is dry.

Heron from afar

From afar, I watch
blue herons stalk through cattail.
I listen. Nothing.

Beach umbrella shadow

Big beach umbrella,
Is smaller than its shadow
On this afternoon.

Fireplace hot-cold

My fireplace snaps hot;
A child on the street shivers
In the winter night cold.

© 1997 by Rodney Lewis Merrill