IMPROVISATION #38
JANUARY INDIFFERENCE
(In Memory of Helen Frankenthaler
1928-2011)

A pendulum swings along
its January indifference
on my grandfather clock
as bird wings fly on birches
intertwined with the hum
upon the wind of snow
at a time of absence for poets
in words of reminiscence,
as aspiring sailors by the dock
help with rope and string
to anchor my kayak
wading into the sea;
out of doors the dawn masks
a field of color
landscape shadows us
shadows of dawn
by home harbor's mirrors
asking in hope for the arbors
to shape the trees shade
as in a Helen Frankenthaler
painting for an early spring.