Sonny Rainshine Poems

Last year’s growth,
and remnants of the year’s before,
has scattered a plush rug
underneath the budding maples,
...

It...
(an unfathomable wrong,
an unforgettable song,
a friend’s betrayal,
...

He was not born with ophiciophobia,
the fear of snakes, but
the swamps of Louisiana
hiss in the sun with crawly things.
...

In ancient sacrificial rites
why did they slaughter the lamb
and not the lion?
Too inconvenient.
...

That year you were airborne.
Like a sheet of loose-leaf paper
you ascended, tumbled, dipped—
intricate as an origami dove,
...

Who are you?
Are you a homebody?
Are you a nobody,
like Emily Dickinson professed to be?
...

Frozen tears, frozen tears,
diamonds, tear-dropp pearls.

Tears aflame, tears aflame,
...

A man and a woman are playing dominos.
The tiles look pretty, all in rows.

The woman wears second-hand clothes,
...

She always washes the linens on Mondays.
Glancing out the back door
she regards the billowing sheets
and hears the distinct Snap! they make
...

I want to jump over the wall,
but there is no wall to jump over,
said the boy to his mother.
...