In The Mood
Summer, 2004

Midday at the river’s side. Filtered light floats to the forest floor. Poplar leaves hang limp in the heat. Two mallards float along with the languid current.

The mottled female pokes about, dabbles for her dinner, ignores the drake’s soft, persistent rasps.

Later, a candle lit restaurant. Above the hum of voices, Louis Armstrong croons, “I’m in the mood for love.”

wine glasses touch—
the top button of her blouse
not undone

published in contemporary haibun online, Spring 2005, v1 n1