MARTIAN RAINS

Closed eyes bring darkened patterns

of red and black

from a distant sun,

and visions of home

far, far away.

A slight breeze,

and a touch of cold

as Winter relents to Spring

on this desolate planet.

She clears her visor

with a gloved hand.

Flowers clutched through polyurethane

are cautiously carried to the shelter.

Pungent are their scent;

rare are their form.

For flowers have not bloomed

on the Martian plains

for eons.

They capture the essence

of a terrain forgotten with time.

When waters flowed and blessed the soil.

Now red dust is sprinkled

with uranium waters

where crystals drift downward,

then endlessly float into frigid skies.

The rains affect perfume intoxicatingly mysterious,

and toxic with radioactive splendor.

How they sparkle in the Martian twilight:

a present for her beloved.

hempdresser ~

Angel On Rims

I saw her on 21^st Avenue one Sunday morning.  She wore a dark shroud,

wrapping her body in its entirety; a miracle it didn’t catch in her spokes.

She road on the sidewalk in an attempt to block my path.  I would have none of it,

side stepping her, indignantly walking onto the grass.  I was stubborn:  didn’t want to hear the music she played from her boom box, a tune for which I was familiar.

She appeared day after day wearing the same shroud, playing same song

from her boom box tied to the back of her bike.  Until one day she wouldn’t

let me pass.  She stopped in front of me, and revealed a pink garb

beneath the layers of black.  A face so gentle, motherly. 

I asked her, “Why do you play this music?” 

She smiled and moved her fingers, “It is for you.”

 “But why would you play music if you cannot hear?” I asked, puzzled.

 “Because it is your song.  It is for you to hear.  I play it for you.”

My messenger fades in the morning light.  What haven’t I heard?