Ice

late July
the monsoon season well underway
thunder and rain

and what I miss is
the icy air
the long slow shiver of the brown leaves
as they fall on the edge of a chill October wind

the heft of the rimed pumpkin
and clouds too thin to hold still
for the sun

I am hungry for the scent of winter
for the crystals that cling to the breath

for slicing ice under skate blades
the sharp burn of a shovel on a snow-swept street

for a stark world yearning for spring

Artifical Boundaries

Post today at Southern Arizona Baha'i Library

Conductor and composer Eric Whitacre conducts three virtual choirs via the internet, revealing the power of music to connect the hearts of human beings around the world in a single language.

Poet Robert Hayden on a postage stamp -- as one of the most admired poets of the 20th century. A religious man, he believed in the unity of humankind.

If this ain't fiction, it must be true.