Music of the First Born
Lifted on summer waves, the pulse of life carries us beyond decay. New seeds crack open, revealing pale forms with boneless limbs, aching for daylight. Affectionate words take shape, and praise, freed from despair, tumbles forth in bright colors as we sing music of the first born along the mistaken avenues of misery, our faces […]
Birth Wail
He visits the well in early morning, before the day opens for business. With a battered tin cup he dips out words and fragments to write on the pages of his unlived life. Ink comes from the blood he’s squandered, paper from the depths of loss. He scrawls with intention and from the silence gives […]
Tumbled Smooth
He lingers on the Moon and the pale light of Arcturus as the valley heat passes over. After years of avid collecting, he fixes his inner eye on release in the supple manner of trees. Going down the mountain the desire to climb dissolves; he notices the shape of streams, the color of rocks and […]
Faith of Leaves
Green leaves of the cherry tree sparkle in morning light while ocean’s breath cools the valley. Suffering these last weeks, reverence was hard to come by, attention to pain prevailed over beauty, yet the sight of you awakened me, ransomed my heart from the prison of bones. I take communion in the sacrament of thanks […]
Resurrection Portal
I whirl through space, a sea of aether and stardust, yet can’t lift my eyes from the dirt trodden path. I stumble around ignorant and afraid, though determined not to fall. I’ve begged a thousand pardons, walked in rags about the sacred mountain, followed endless breadcrumbs toward the promise of silence. I keep my head […]
To Be Like Water
More stone than sea I’d be like water, touched by wind, loved by the moon. I’d dwell in deep canyons, travel the furthest reach, and beyond sight of land be the ocean that shapes your grief in a curling wave of foam and sunlight. […]
To Beauty Let Go
“It is the nature of stone to be satisfied. It is the nature of water to want to be somewhere else.” – Mary Oliver We walked on windswept dunes, over flower-strewn meadows where the sound of birds and flowing creeks gave the air its beauty. You asked “what is the meaning” and with you […]
When Leaves Burst Out
Look for me when leaves burst out and voices of spring ring full in the valley. Follow the snow melt along the Clackamas and Long Tom rivers, beside the Willamette where wild flowers spread and deer grow fat. Where salmon run the Deschutes and herds of elk trek to higher ground, the invisible hand guides […]
Noise of Flowers
Spring flowers rattle the caves, provoking the apostles to take up their pallets of sorrow and leave dark comfort. Trees hide in the rain, fearing the cold; as crocus and daffodils join the chorus the noise of flowers disturbs my sleep. Pulling on the coat of forgiveness I stagger toward the light, shocked into wakefulness […]
Engineers of Love
The gravity of your smile, lighthearted yet muscled with the blessings of sorrow, keeps my satellite in orbit, my rage against the machine tempered and refined. Chasms of belief threaten us daily, yet as engineers of love we span the dark depths with bridge after bridge, exhausted but unbroken. No steel and wire of mechanical […]
Passport Stamped
I won’t outlive the sea, not one drop of its salt depth, not the old growth trees nor the stone beneath my feet. I am a guest to this banquet, a pilgrim at the bazaar. I fought madness and money and though my bones grow brittle still I grip the tools to carve these words. […]
Flies with the Spirit
The stars we follow have written our names, the ones we’re given on journeys with the sun. The one your mother knew when she regarded your face outside and breathing, that your father held and surrounded with light. The name of your soul – flies with the spirit, the gypsy through time, an explorer of […]
Given this Beauty
Tune your instrument to the key of praise while morning light shines on the sea. Trees lift their branches in the rising breeze and the sound of life buzzes in the forest. How important must you be when all around you glows a miracle? You might seem drunk but given this beauty the stones would […]
As She Passes
I return to the sea, her face and tide the peace of my heart, the words of our story. From far north to the straits of de Fuca, the inland passage speaks in ancient voice, braided with fog and the cry of gulls. Younger than we were yet so much older, I carve this message […]
Give Way to the Moon
Scratch a few notes in pencil, erase and feed them to the fire. With your soul at risk what the fire burns is not your worry – that is the closed room, the barred door, the lock without a key. The tide shifts and water rushes south. Scribble your last pleas for freedom, then give […]