funeral procession –
the town drunk tips
his tattered hat

one a.m.
a drunken call
from the old boyfriend

autumn’s end
a bottle of wine
shared with a bee

everything you took
in the divorce
long island iced tea

kitchen encounter ~
tasting the wine
from his lips

New Year's Eve--
bubbles rise again
in the old crystal flutes

half-way home
a pint of stout
to keep out the cold

easing into
a glass of Merlot
moonlight through the pines

beer bottles
clink in the cooler
summer solstice

writing haiku ...
my wine glass fills
with sunlight

my stories
getting better and better
four fingers of scotch

no longer friends
the aftertaste
of imported ale

too much wine
the gnat drying out
on my fingertip

Bar Mitzvah party
the young man and his mother
first on the dance floor

lime quarter ...
an icecube collapses
over jazz

another whiskey
even the trophy trout
                    swims

reading Basho
the mournful strains
of Coltrane's horn

between songs . . .
     pick marks
     on an old guitar

drunker
than the moon . . .
starlight

for the rabbits
on the misty moon
... fado

Grafton Street--
the busker shares
his wine

carousel music
a little girl's smile
comes round again

street pannist --
in an empty milk tin
the clink of a coin

new year blues
dust
in my soup bowl

lullabies of suburban night trains

I awake
inside blossoms
songbirds

wine at dusk
old friends discuss
their remaining years

100 proof moonshine
the story better
than the soundtrack

snowmelt --
Turkish jazz drifts in
with the afternoon

stacked shot glasses --
wondering when
it gets fun again

between the first
and the second star
two glasses of wine