Cinquains and Tanka for early November

BEWARE
First day
of deer season . . .
not a good day to drive
the narrow, wooded mountainous

highway.
~~~

WHAT NOW? OR WHO?
Again,
an ambulance
screams by, lights flashing. In
this rural milieu, where does it
end up?
~~~


TIME CHANGE
The sixth
of November--
warm enough to sit out,
but too dark (Central Standard Time)
to see.
~~~

IN TWO-THOUSAND-TWELVE
Absent
for 10 days; when
I return from the trip,
the Encore azaleas are still
in bloom,

the mums
still radiant,
but the moss rose? Leggy.
The feral cats I left unfed?
Still here.
~~~

TANKA
leaf-vacuum truck
whooshes up the fallen leaves
from this mountain street
but by this afternoon
twice as many will be down
~~~

SHADOWY
Cat walks
across a strip
of sunshine on the floor--
shadow he makes as large as a
tiger.
~~~