From Tanzania

First Words

Swallows head North, not South here
Six a.m. sunrise
Is one O'clock Swahili – the first hour

The sky speaks a different dialect

Clouds have no predators
Grow massive but pour no rain here

Men hammer hulls from trees
Rub shark fat between seams
On boats with no names.

(ms2006)

Spring Leaves


Cool on fissured limbs.

From how deep down -
From how far back.




(ms2005)