celebration house

Christmas lights tacked to the eaves
ceramic pumpkins on the stairs
stuffed witch in the window
pink balloons
streamer over the door, “Happy Birthday!”

foreclosure effects

furniture stored under blue tarps
two more dogs in the yard
another car parked before the house

somewhere another house
dead grass, empty windows
the roses bloom for no one

same old, same old

each weekday the mailman
angers the same dog

Belinda encaustic notes

memorable colors, textures
filling in the squares of an orderly life
partially or completely, or with overflow
out to the edges of the painting,
honey running down the sides

(a few are filled in half-way
to a rupture
cascades of wax solidifying over
a bottom-heavy canvas)

(some thick and gloppy, slowly clotting)
(others, liquid, faster, shoot out the top like a geyser)

:-)

she must have decided that
to have a clean house
cleaning is too high a price
to pay

adjustment

she tried for years
to straighten him out
nowadays she contents herself
ironing creases into his jeans

90 degree turn

she stands outside the door
pulling on a cigarette
with that left-behind look--

society has moved on