Senti a Roma /  Listen to Rome 

Today

a saxophone blows rouge

over the cobblestones.

Here,

the faded yellows

of accordion, guitar 

and hand-tinted songs

spool across the piazza. 

There,

bells peal gold and umber

onto the rooftops.

Later,

fluted silver tones

blend with dancing green

fountain song:

acqua verde con Verdi,

until

sapphire falls quiet

from the night sky.

Senti a Roma --

tonight

a small brass tingle of stars.

Rome

Italy

September 1997

from The Speed of Sight

A Heart is Breaking

            on hearing Pradeepanjalee perform Kuveni  

Under a distant dance

of thunder

violin crystals

catch and refract

the hidden light

of a breaking heart.

A river of green silk

flows fast and slow.

The earth is a tabla

of pangs and trembles.

The wind is at once hollow

and mellow

like autumning leaves,

and silver strings

say no more, no more. 

at Weill Recital Hall

New York City

November, 2009

Rumba for Piano & Ukulele

Let’s be sensuous.

Bend our knees,

sway our hips;

flirt barefoot

across the floor,

in 4/4 time;

eyes on half-closed eyes,

half-parted lips.

Quick, quick, slow;

side-to-side.

Para Cardoso Me Voy,

vas, vamos.

behind the bright blue doors on Degraw Street

Cobble Hill, Brooklyn

May 2016

The Singing Tree

Sings high-tenored notes 

into the white wonderland.

Calls to the tops

of the neighboring trees, 

the beds of nesting birds,

the brows

of the winter clouds

furrowed low 

in the over-cold sky.

Rings out a clear,

hardy voice

of joy; excelsis

I chance to hark to,

here in these

Canticled Woods.

on the old Dodge Estate

Madison, New Jersey

January, 2017