My Nights Are Longer Than Your Days, A Tanka Sequence

we speak
in monosyllables
all through tea ...
my name misspelled
throughout our divorce papers

lone star
in the window
I hear
the sigh of
this widowed night

in a dream
my ex's dimpled smile ...
awake
I raise the blind
to winter rain

at the cold moon
my old dog swallows
its voice ...
another glass of wine
to this noisy silence

Ribbons, 9:2, Fall 2013