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Three Poems: Ladies of the Supermarket; Eagle Soaring haiku; Unseen

Ladies of the supermarket difficult

to be elegánte pushing a metallic cart

past the flowers, through the produce

and making an awkward turn

where dairy meets delicatessen specialty

 

Eyes are averted as you lean

to tear a thin plastic bag from

fat roll nestled above the cauliflower;

touching you is such embarrassment, even inadvertent

bumping of steel wheels is sudden intimacy

 

Yet your eyes are so compelling—

smoldering brown pacing ebony skin

piercing green shattering the calm,

yearning eyes with  supple dark lashes

tumultuous blue proclaiming like open sirens

 

We continue to circle each other

clutching left-handed our smudged lists

careful not to block the aisles

angling for the short check-out lines,

mesmerized by cascade of cardboard, color and price

 

The young children are restless in their straps

so many plans and regrets haunt our steps

the open parking lot with the familiar car beckons,

pausing briefly, then rushing yet again—

these lovely ladies, splendid and nonchalant.

 

 

Dark eagle soaring

across the Sound

murmuring waves.

 

Unseen

Ascending to the jagged peak of Annapurna

late Sunday, January 2

amid penetrating wind and vast expanse of stars,

not  even a whisper of moonlight

 

Chewing feverishly on coca leaves

walking the sands of the Atacama Desert

shifting panorama of active volcanoes,

not a drop of water to be found

 

Despite its scanning and transmission electron microscopes

generating endless images of SARS-CoV-2

actually nothing for the eyes to see,

even when pacing the aisles or passing the dinner rolls

 

Fresh and immediate

present wakefulness

always present, seldom recognized, is

unseen.

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