Hunting rock pool shells
At sunrise, the tide tugging
My child’s toes too soon
Ryan Stone
Undertow
Free-fall
Tumbling russet leaf
How brief the rush of freedom
Between bough and earth
Ryan Stone
Trust
Soft snores beside me
A wheaten curl of warm sleep
Outside the wind howls
Ryan Stone
Hunger
Her silver net cast
She scurries back under eave
Lunchtime drawing near
Ryan Stone
Willow
By a mountain lake
Naked limbs dance with the wind
Winter stole her shawl
Ryan Stone
Anadromous
She swims up Main Street
A pink flash against the flow
Seeking calm waters
Ryan Stone
Ashtray Girl
A tiger’s red eye blinking—
she sucked each joint
to ash, slid her hands
past no return,
snatched
my hard-earned cash.
She surfed a wave of whiskey
past the breakers
each new dawn,
claimed every song
worth singing
remained as yet unsung.
I met her and grew old
with her, with only
one regret—
our spark flared
bright, but faded fast;
a burnt-out cigarette.
Ryan Stone
In Passing
At your funeral
Wisterias and silence
Even the wind dies
Ryan Stone
Sluggish
From elsewhere to here
The stagnant crawl of a snail
Pandemic postage
Ryan Stone
Dappled
Mist drapes the morning
Sable thread lacing through white
A lone Magpie weaves
Ryan Stone
days of stone 