Poem: Text Message

(Self-portrait In Brittlebush)

iamm txtng thisa
messge 2 u
becsuae whn I trry
2 tlak 2 u
u donnt nundrstand me
attal.

Poem: Gray

(Hail-storm Over Pyramid Lake)

Gray
dampens emotions down
makes a quiet sound
Like ice freezing underground.

Gray
as Minerva’s clear eye
unemotional, outside
a cool assessor, silent pride.

Gray
where some go to hide away.
Keep your distance on the day
I’m wearing clothes of gray.

Gray
Like Dorothy’s Kansas plain
simple, flat and without pain
but also, like the twister’s mien.

Poem: Promise

(A Glad Procession Of Trees, San Jose)

I know that when you look
out your window
everything looks dark

but, I promise you
dawn is coming.

See how it pales
at the knifeline horizon¦
soon sun will rise in the east.

Soon we can leave our rooms
of uneasy sleep
and dusty lightbulb smell.

I’ll show you a
rose and golden morning

Then we’ll go walking again
in the cool rising of light,
together, our hair shining like haloes.

And won’t it be fine
to make plans again and laugh.
It’s not so far off after all.

I’ll give you
all the rainbows you need
but don’t give up before you see

The rising of the mists
on a brand new day.

Poem: Fountain

(Crashing Wave, Pyramid Lake, Nevada)

If you would

Soften diamonds,

Send up a spray into sunlight,

Falling into joyful pools,

Rippling to the edge of forever,

You might slip under and, swimming

Become part of the movement and sound...

... Up ahead is the final goal

Adoration, as you are divided

Into the radiant multiverse...

You’d be there.

Poem: Feeding

(Egret Feeding at Palo Alto Baylands)

In the graceful, virginal

Heat and water

Breeding life as

The universe itself

Breeds worlds untold

I

stand alone, unknown

To all except myself

And the creatures

I eat

Poem: Fog

(Trees In Fog, San Jose)

With infinite silence

the fog creeps

with tendril fingers

winding softly,

over my eyes

until everything is cured

of lines, corners, bodies.

I am a ship

a ship, moving

with

tenuous,

groping careful sails

through the uncharted

weather

blurred tomorrow endings.

Hello,

where are you ?

I hear the bell ringing

on all sides

large boats turn around and

around

slowly lumbering

caught in eddies

whirled about and then

tossed

like a worthless fish

right back where they

started

wherever that is.

Fog

the unexplored ocean

the ghostly blessing

of water

upon the land.

do you know it?

no.

no one knows

anything

about the fog.

Poem: We came then, to the place

(Angel and Lantern On A Christmas Ornament)

When we came then, to the place
Where our love had laid us down
And covered all the grief
In tenderness and care,
That’s when I knew you for the first time
As you are, a part of mine
That’s when I knew myself, rejoicing
Not alone, but with you, now.

We fill each other’s hollows
Hold close in sweetened night
There is one, there is the other,
and then there is no other.

Here our bodies move together
Ancient movement, primal pleasure
Now the fingers of your mind
Touch so lovingly my soul
We entered the eternal
As I am, entwined in yours
That is when I then accepted,
I gave, and I rejoiced

Our bodies sang, dissolving
We merged with all around
Our glory filled all spaces
And the fire purified.

And it all comes down to this:
I need to have you near me
I will go through anything
So long as we can hold together.
As you are, so there am I
In the spreading sun of morning.
The day stands free before us
Hold my hand inside your soul.

We can climb the mountains
And fly right to the core,
Where God is you and I
And God is everything.

We have come now to this place
Where our bodies have laid down,
Renewed in verdant pastures
Clothed in the robe and crown
That we wore when we were born
Shining infants on a path
Enfolded in fine mist
No one can see its turnings.

The radiance is blinding
But we walk on, so emboldened
Because we’ve entered to the heart
Of every spinning, blazing star.

Image: Sun and Wildflowers, Palo Alto Baylands.

Poem: The Story of the Sea

(Point Lobos)

They say the sea is full of tears

that's why it's called the sea

they're gathered up from everywhere 

just how’s a mystery.

It’s all been building up in there

for a hundred million years

some even say the dinosaurs

contributed their tears.

Some people have cold, black sharks

swimming in their eyes

some have jellyfish or shells

others, drowning flies.

The body is a beach of sand

beyond the forests grow

but nothing living can forget

the sea from which we flow.

Look out across the moving

waters from the land.

Some say it seems to call us

to come back again.

But, we’ve left the sea behind 

like so many things

and dried out in the air

into flesh or bark or wings.

Even so, seawater 

flows through our every vein

and flows back to the ocean

from all our joy and pain.

Tears carry off our bitterness

they carry sadness, too

sometimes I cry from happiness

of the love I have for you.

Out of all the tears that flow

salt-spray and tides that turn

clouds and rain, a freshening

this is our return.

They say the sea is full of tears

that’s how the sea has come to be

it’s ebbed and flowed for centuries

why is still a mystery.

Poem: Lady Dawn

(Dawn In The California Desert)

In her robes

of pale blue and rose

she walks,

touches gray buildings

with promises of warmth.

she does not seek

your wakeful eyes

but, if you turn to her

she gives you pure, gentle moments

she makes your heart swell

like sweet fruit in summer

before she turns, enraptured

and gives herself

to the sun.

He consumes her in fiery glory

they merge--

they glow with

familiar passion,

conceiving a mighty child…

and so is born the clearness

of our everyday.