Two Octets for Sandy

Light & Sound Octet

after you read the next poem I write, not

this but the one after, you’ll love me; small rain

touches the kwanzan blossoms with its light touch,

perhaps as electric as clasping your hand

in the car under the white streetlight striking

those same blossoms with its shower of photons;

particles of light shimmering in your voice,

sound waves rippling the evening in your gaze

◦            ◦            ◦

Mississippi Ave Rainy Evening Octet

(4/17/17)

of course rain came just then, sky between dark &

light, you walking toward me from the other

direction, the one I didn’t expect, past

the pear tree, myself under the hawthorn’s new

leaves because I’ve grown used to thorns; evening

came too, word shower, amber tea, glass cups; comes

night, precipitous, altered, gentle—because

the admirable rain does know its season

Jack Hayes

© 2017