Loons
On Bear Point, I saw
Only gift shoppe bears
I didn’t see loons
But I heard them on the lake
Invisible dinosaurs
Reunion Weekend
Reunion weekend
Campus tours are upside down
A few kids amid
A shuffling, sandaled swarm of
Retirees in college hats
Procrastinating
The simplest pleasure
Of procrastinating is
Putting off pleasures:
Finishing this book, drinking
That beer, going for a ride
Graduates
Parents’ arms leaning
Up and toward their graduates
A black-gowned river
Thumbs tap, phone screens flicker, and
Photos ascend to the cloud
Keys
Each workday, I lock
The office door, pocketing
My keys only to
Pull them out in a minute
So I can unlock my bike
Graduation
I try to avoid
Wistful parenting, because
Time flies straight and true
But ending fifth grade means that
We have no little kids now
Birdbath
The freshened birdbath
Draws visitors from the air
Finches sip shyly
Robins gulp, beaks tilted up
Starlings splash, water vandals
Field Day
I’ve spent four Field Days
Manning the ball-throw events
And the first exchange
In the 4 x 100
Relay: I’ve earned those sunburns
Lost and Found
The gym’s lost and found
Table evokes mystery:
Lonely socks, shoes, gloves?
Textbooks? Earbuds? Underwear?
No rink, but two hockey skates?
Award Day
Most darts miss the board
So when an award comes through
For a professor
Who sought and accepted help,
I’m thrilled for him and his work
Iron Range Towns
Though I don’t know them
The towns of the Iron Range
Seem familiar
From childhood years of watching
Weather forecasts from Duluth