Dave Read

Contrails

I wake, groggy, my mind awash in last night’s dreams. While there’s light in the sky, the sun has yet to rise. A mist clouds the morning. As I listen for a moment to the silence, I realize I am totally alone.

sparrow ribs
wind fills
a plastic bag

But I’m not alone. My wife is there, asleep in bed. I shake her unresponsive shoulder. Drifting from our room, I call my kids. They don’t return the greeting. I decide to go down for a cup of coffee but find myself floating above the stairs.

mountain lake . . .
a billion years
of starlight

I start to rise. My thought clouds dissipate. I wonder if I’m falling back to sleep.

crows caw
the opacity
of rain

staining
the old wood cross
my faith

a squid waits
in the tide pool
new moon