Almond trees

        Almond trees-

        out of this black

        and iron-wood winter.

        August fences the long block

        on numb cracked fingers.

        Smoke from

        a cottage chimney

        rises in the thinnest line

        of orisons for spring.

        Already pink blossom

        and almond white,

        the fallen petals

        threads

        of deep pledged carpets.

        And at night

        beneath the branches

        are what hangs and depends

        on the metaphor of stars.

These poems are from my new collection IN THE APRICOT DARKNESS (view the cover and contents below in my recent posts). They are now being published individually, daily under 'recent posts' on my blog and will be available shortly as an eBook that can be read online or downloaded for free.