Some of my short poems

Shadows July 1998

Long shadows going west

Upon themselves becoming less,

Will reverse and stretch back east

Until they overtake the sky.

Into pitch of night they slide;

Sun scurrying to hide.

Dawn

Light through the window drape is glowing,

Pillow over head doesn't stop the knowing

Old ladies with their dogs to walk are stirring,

Fresh breeze the roof vents are a-whirling.

Give your dreams a goodbye nod,

Pledge the day to Mother/Father God.

Tell fear and worry to be gone,

Rise up and face the dawn.

Ghostly Spirit June 1998

Sailing on through time she passes

Flinging the night around her shoulders.

Swift and silent stars shine in her eyes.

Worlds glide beneath her feet.

Many stars and planets pass.

Many beings greet her.

Ghostly Spirit calls the dawn to hide her.

I send my soul along beside her.

Skipping Stones March 2001

Skipping stones across the sky on lake.

I bring my joyful self to contemplate

The mirrored stillness of the shore.

Flat stone hurled as discus skims aloft

Scatters reflection each slap it makes,

Then sways its zees to sandy bottom soft.

Starting journey to shore once more

Worn smother yet for skipping flight.

Endless down to sparkling sand.

Koala Killer Twenty-second Installment

Chapter 6

When Cass returned, he had Jorge in tow.

"Let me see, Manny," Jorge said in a grim voice. He always grieved when one of their animals died, right down to the smallest bird. It was one of the things that Mari liked about him. As he looked at the soiled and lifeless marsupial, he said, "We'll get one of the Southwest Animal vets to do the autopsy."

"The police may require it," Manny said, "and probably pay for it as well," he added slightly more cheerfully.

Suddenly Mari was tired. She couldn't even sit up straight in the wheelchair. She wanted to go home and sleep, if possible. The last five days had been nightmarish for her. Too much violence and death for a person who seldom read the news and never watched it on TV.

"Please take me home, Cass. I'm so tired I ...," then the worst happened; she started weeping. "I hate when this happens."

Thankfully, the three men didn't try to soothe her. They just looked down at the ground and waited.

"We'll take care of the police and get this poor animal checked out Mari," Jorge said.

"Take care of yourself chicadee," Manny added.

"Please let me know what the autopsy tells us, Jorge. Manny. " She called to them over her shoulder as Cass pushed her wheelchair back along the paths to the parking lot.

Cass was quiet in the process of getting them back to his car and on the road back to her apartment. As soon as he got her settled on the couch for the sleep she had longed for back in the elephants' enclosure, she knew she wouldn't be able to just fall into dreamland, because every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was the limp body of the poor little Koala. Cass was making a pot of herb tea in the kitchen.

"Could you bring me some aspirin with the tea, please Cass."

"Sure thing, Marigolden."

The tea was perfect. Just what she needed. She started to relax.

He smiled, "So much for lunch plans. I'd better call Shirley. We'll set it for tomorrow, shall we?"

"Yes."

She put her cup and saucer down and slumped down, shutting her eyes.

When she woke up, it was with relief from her dream of Koalas dying and their bodies trailing behind her and the feeling of no way out. She would be glad when things got back to normal and she could wake up from pleasant dreams again.

...................................................................................

Yikes. I should have looked ahead and seen that this is all I've written on this story. Well, almost all. I have four paragraphs on Carl in what was to be Part II.

Even if I don't develop that, it needs tying together, don't you think Mary? Advise sought.

Koala Killer Twenty-First Installment

"Did you miss the action? About a half hour or so ago, Carl made a run for it, after being called into Jorge's office for more questioning about Stan.

"What do you mean, 'made a run for it'?"

"I watched the chase scene in the parking lot myself," Cass put in.

"Oh, shit. Sorry, Mari. Damn. Sorry. An inferior keeper who knows the diet and routine is better than no keeper at all. Hello overtime. Goodbye vacation. Well, I'd better see if the girls are ready for their feeding. Come along."

When they came around to the area where they kept the elephant's supplies, Mari looked around the little yard area. It had occurred to her back at Aviary, that if this Carl was the villain, he might be the only one in the zoo who knew about the mysterious Koala that no one but Mari had seen. She noticed the ground was littered with the Eucalyptus wind trimmings. "This is what Koala's eat," she muttered to herself.

There was a small crate in one corner. With some effort, she wheeled over to it.

"What's this Manny?"

"Got no idea."

She lifted the box carefully by one corner and noticed that the dirt under it had been dug up.

"Looks like something's buried here, doesn't it?"

"Here's the girls' shovel, let's take a look."

Manny took two shovels full of dirt and the body was visible. In his third shovel full was the dead body of a Koala.

"Oh God," Mari whimpered.

"What the hell? Sorry Mari."

He lowered the body back into the shallow little grave.

"Better not touch it. We'll get the police here right away," Cass said, "If you're okay here with Manny, I'll go get them now?"

"I'm fine, Cass. Go ahead," she said to his retreating back.

Manny said, "No wonder the girls have been restless. They're sensitive around death. Do you suppose Carl killed the Koala? And what the... What's a Koala doing here in the first place?"

"Remember the night Stan was shot, when you came to look after the gibbon? I saw the Koala too. I told you about it that night, didn't I?"

"I think you did, but there was no Koala there when I got there, so I let it go, thinking I misunderstood what you said, or that maybe you were babbling from being upset."

"Jorge thought I was seeing thins too. I wish I had been. That'd be better than finding the little guy like this."