Between – Page 20 – Iron Haiku

waiting for the train
I stand on the platform near
the other pigeons
–
misty morning-
migrating geese
return to the sky

brown rivers swollen-
remnants of our prior lives
piled up in the streets
–
autumn sun-
in my living room
the black waterline

I hit a doorknob
or tripped and fell down the stairs-
I’m just so clumsy
–
an autumn eve-
the sky lit by
a house on fire

I may seem nice but
if I had my way I’d carve
the meat from your bones
–
desperate thirst-
lions in the
tall grass

trying to balance-
one foot on the precipice
of your adulthood
–
the arc of the sun-
change made
in a single day

beauty and danger
your small delicate flower
surrounded by thorns
–
clearing haze-
following the trail
of blood diamonds

the magic kingdom-
selling scraps of happiness
at a fat profit
–
finally awake-
finding nothing
behind the curtain

echoes in the walls-
this unfurnished apartment
hiding its secrets
–
harvest moon-
cool wind
in the corn field

wings skim the lake as
a great blue heron takes flight
in the predawn mist
–
the rising sun-
hidden amid
the cattails

before the mirror
staring into the unknown-
who the hell am I
–
sunday afternoon-
looking for a family
I swab my cheek