Then We Will Not Speak
After the storms pass and the hungry ones are driven from their feed, the humble will wait in the calm sloughs of spring beauty. There you will find me sore boned and broken, returned from the battlefields of poetry. Then we will not speak nor write a single word for on that surging tide silence […]
Rebuilding the Ancient City
Don’t mistake the rain soaked valley with hard paved streets, people entranced by things. Below the cracked sidewalks roadside trees push out their roots, thickening, lengthening until with the strength of water they shatter their carapace. Beneath the concrete skin arteries pump with life, microbes teem and swirl rebuilding the ancient city with unseen magic. […]
Superhero Gone Dark
It won’t take long to remove the broken, clean the streets and fill the sidewalks with carefree shoppers. We can go about our business dressed for joy, overlooking the monsters in Italian suits, shoes perfect for brushing the unwanted to the curb. Down in the sewers a masked man toils, superhero gone dark. He drinks […]
Beneath the Forest Dark
The other world signals with blankets of snow, quieting the noise in moments of peace. Not to be outdone cars roar back to life and the search for joy resumes at full throttle. While contemplating the last threads of night the other world continues long after our meander and the broken pieces of our perfect […]
First to Feast
Iron morning, steel gray skies, crows on the rooftops. I’m not seeking, only waiting, pressed under winter’s hand. I eat and drink with silent armies, tent fires burning shards of dream. The care to remember creaks open and shut like a rusty gate as ghosts pass to receive forgiveness from the popes of deception. On […]
Dark Heaven
Morning under clouded skies, the longest night passed in the slow turn toward brighter days. Aldebaran leads Orion through the winter arc as I pursue the star within on the road leading home. Be of good faith my friend; though we have far to travel, we are connected, however distant, following a light in the […]
Words of the Disciple
The tangle of roots in mud and clay hold the impossible height swaying above the rooftops. I burrow down in what’s left of imagination, clawing through wires and pipes to the soil past grief, finding a grip in the broken clods to recall your face, your name, the years when strength was real. I fought […]
Still Point
Quietly he gathers attention to the still point within, a candle flame brightening the inner sanctuary where life force pulses. His roots of awareness drink deeply of the sacred, as prayers for peace suffuse the sentient world turning now to greet the new earth dawn. […]
Original Intent
After the burden of travel I return to the evergreen valley with winter light along the rim. Without wonder the soul becomes weary, needing the air that stirs the high trees, cleansing the passages clogged by the dull weight of repetition. One lightning stroke of imagination and the body, racked by the failure to love, […]
Calling Us Back
In early dawn hours the moon sets in the west, Venus alight in the eastern sky. Perhaps I’m foolish to become so joyful yet I hold the morning dear like the Navajo who sing each day into being with prayers of thanks. However far we stray heaven will light the sky, to brighten the darkness […]
Somewhere in the Night
The skies are clouded but beyond the layers of gray and black starlight and a moon I cannot see. I travel knowing but not knowing beneath the street lamps, my eyes fixed on cobblestone. As I make my way I signal you with a smile, one of remembrance and distant shining. You are out there […]
Wise Men
Christmas 2023 The long night lengthens on a rain swept evening, blessed dark as wanderers from afar we traverse the city. Estrangement from the sacred surrounds our passage yet stars guide us to the child. The stable candle lit with beds of common straw, our hearts full of wonder in this holy hour while shepherds […]
Free from Repetition
The waters of life flow across the wheel of time bringing change and resolve. While the horrors of war plague the silent earth yearns to heal, covering the graves with green solace. Forgiveness is the antidote for bitterness and hate, medicine that requires repentance. Let us meet at the earth altar, bundle our grievances upon […]
Dark Strength
The trees are a problem, their roots lifting sidewalks to the autumn sky and my complaints bitter with the choices between hardness and life. I decide with the roots going down into wet soil for knowledge, up with dark strength to break apart ignorance. Black hooded crows watch from nearby branches, wondering what will rise […]
Poets of Grief
Poets of grief multiply in the killing fields, transcribing bitter fruit. Who am I to speak of ancient earth, life beyond the terrible sadness? Perhaps they know and need only to feel the morning air, the sound of rustling leaves. I find a bird who’ll take a message over the walls and wire. I write […]