Cold Night

Cold night has come
Deep purple
Stars thrown out
All over the sky.
Not chilly
But bone cold
Standin' the hair
Up on the neck cold
Like a wild animal tryin'
To bush out his coat
Cold.

Washtub Concert

The winter rain
Falls quiet
On a day
That is too warm
For snow.
In the place
Winter white
There is mud
Brown and dull
Dead leaves
Sodden mud
Everywhere
Denigrates
The sterile beauty
Of winter.

Yet under
My porch
Drops of water
Fall through
Cracks
Planks
And play
A merry
Percussion
On metal
Washtubs
Laid upside down.
Plink dink
Plink plunk.