These two were created with the use of a few required words
and phrases.

The Grunion are Running! 9/04/03

Like the hammer and tongs of the ocean’s blacksmith
And an orchard grower’s calloused fingers
We softened the shore and peeled away its sandy rind
The cold comforts of the moon’s steady glow
Eased our growing fears
As little pleasant splashes
Drew closer, developing
Into fluent, high-pitched, joyous shrieks
Weeping, our heads bent
In shame
We watched helplessly
As the treasures we once carried
Were taken away, gleaming
In a bucket.

QUE NATORA
9/04/03

Oh lady willow, why are you weeping?
Each day you bend your head
Closer to your feet
In the cold comfort of silence and sorrow.
You are fluent in the wind’s language,
So I tried to bend the wind.
I held him fast with tongs and beat him with a hammer,
But I could not match his strength.
Your own tears continued to make pleasant little splashes
Whose ripples scattered the stars
The wind held gleaming in a bucket—
They flew up in the sky,
We peeled the veil from the moon,
And you smiled