when we leave. (haiku)

Thousands of cameras
observe an empty city;
deer gaze at streetlights.

© Nancy Botta, 2020

Coping.

You left for some time
ages ago
long enough to haunt,
long enough for everything
loud and living
to sink into itself,
a cavity beneath waves…

but I’m OK now—
day drinking with Nemesis
laboring rust and dirt,
I lie with your bones
and start fires at night.

Another grey sky
crumbles into dusk edge
night shift nurse’s smile.

© Nancy Botta, 2020

Deep in a forest 
the world is quiet and dead;
newborn icicles.

© Nancy Botta, 2020

Cool splashing water
rinses off bruised apricots;
finally, the sun.