Volunteer Park

4p.m. 2/15/12

Beetle boots crunch and crackle 

On a stone-lined path

Jet engine and prop plane hum above

Her pea-coat is open

And a camera nuzzles into her chest

Her feet silently wait on the grass

The wind blows past eddying inaudible whispers

That can only be felt

The waves of her brunette hair are moved

By the wind's expressions

The path crackles 

She opens her arms

To receive her friend

And his camera knocks hers 

As they kiss. 

Snuffboxes

Seattle Asian Art Museum, 2/15/12

Rank and file stand the snuffboxes

Waiting for inspection.

Their only uniformity: their usage.

Some were grace with delicate brushwork

Depicting maybe a horse grazing beneath a tree

Or a heron wetting is toes

Waiting for a chance to spear 

Something to whet its appetite 

Others are mimics of geisha girls

Or bulge-eyed coy, dragonfly or

A nephrite rabbit mid munch.

They all hold a musky scent of aged tobacco

Laced with the aromatics of mint, compher, or jasmine

They stand in failing light

Awaiting inspection

But never granted the release

Of validation.