Rain falls, layer upon layer,
soaking the spring earth
with wet desire.

 

She lies waiting
in her dark encampment,
for roots to sing,
her womb to open
to the passionate sun.

 

Let lightning strike our hearts,
the groaning of the land be heard.
The gathering of night
meets one bright star,

 

and beyond all belief
the cherry trees flower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading of “Beyond All Belief” with music of Beethoven by Leonard Bernstein.

Why go on sleeping
when the sun breaks out
of night jail?

 

Light thunders, planets
and stars disappear;
the Earth wrapped in blue.

 

Prophets of old trembled
for this sight,
monarchs stole fortunes
yet wasted them in bed.

 

Get up, comrades,
join the posse!
The morning’s here,
and mighty horses await.

 

The one who desires sleep
is not your friend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading of “Join the Posse” with music by Jim Wilson.

Great beasts devour
the nourishment
where thought is born
on rivers of darkness.
Warriors of the slender arrow
thrive there in beauty,
and refuse the poison flower.
They map the Dog Star
in the night sky above
and the journey of Earth
through dark and light.
From above and below
wisdom guides them,
beyond broken forests
to the open savannas
of remembered green glory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading of “Remembered Green Glory” with music by Tinariwen.

After the storms pass
and the hungry ones
driven from their feed,
the humble will wait
in the calm sloughs
of spring beauty,
ready to rise
from the slack water
of mediocrity.
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 will prevail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading of “Then We Will Not Speak” with music by Norm Smookler.

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.
Upside down the tree of life
grows into the earth,
spreading branches
and flowering the fruit
known long ago as knowledge
to rise in the mountains
and be read leaf by leaf
by the shaven monks
of eternity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading of “Rebuilding the Ancient City” with music by Nicolas Jaar.