Contributor: James Robert Rudolph

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Warm papoose, turning cold,
cradled baby, cradled body,
slipping past us,
a soft sidestep,
without footfall, trailing off.
My heart drains
to a pale ochre
with the last
of your departing filament.

Furry nuzzle haven,
you are lumpy love,
a rebuke unknowing
to men of schemes,
kneading paws, beatific rhythm.


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James Robert Rudolph is a retired psychologist and teacher having returned to old haunts in northern New Mexico after a busy career in Minneapolis. He is attempting a resurrection of poetry and playwriting interests and finds Santa Fe a rich, if not always willing, muse. Creatively he aspires to the crafting of work that expresses honest experience in beautiful language, complex or simple, as serves the work’s purpose.