Yarrow House

Autumn Renku

He stands on the fishing pier,
counts freighters, tugs, fish boats.
Cold wind.  Thin coat. Old sea legs.  JY

Sensation drowned in memory
Only the motion, the weight of the catch.  CI

Autumn evening. Cool air pools
beneath the alders.  Scent of ripe blackberries,
wood smoke. Two fish frying in the pan.  JY

This red glow, turning.
Vine maples reflected in the moon.  CMA

Lopsided and large and rising.
Up Fourteenth come two rappers.
“Hey, what you lookin’ at?”  CI

Two white tattered clouds flapping
from the bony fin of poplars on the hill beyond.  JY

Exhausted and languid,
the duende steals into
the stillness of the glowing embers.  CI

Bright spiders explode across the sky.
Oooh! Silver faces smiling upward.  CMA

Jacket hanging from one shoulder,
he steps from the shadows. Fingers flick 
across the strings. A fountain of chords.  JY

Echoing sounds in the empty plaza.
A heart returns to its source. CI

She swings on the arm of this new partner.
Green dress flying out behind her.
Laughter, bright and shy. CMA

On the side the mothers fan themselves,
remembering their once-light feet.  JY

Dancing hands, fingers flying
in silence, the young father beckons
the small child to the water. CI

by Judith Yarrow, Catherine M. Alexander, and Carol Ivey

Published in Cicada, (Cicada Award) (1995)

Onetime reproduction for non-resale purposes permitted by the author with the following credit line:  by Judith Yarrow