Somewhere East
Somewhere east a Navajo man greets the sun and north an Inuit woman chews on a sealskin, both remembering the giver of life. An old immigrant rides the subway alone in his thoughts amidst the crowd, disheveled and isolate yet in touch with the spirits of the underground. Two women return to the farm of […]
With Wings Unfolded
Much has fallen away – the medals, the money, the magical thinking turned by the long slow arc to become like old crow who croaked at the beginning about what doesn’t last. Yet standing before your art I see our lifetimes compressed, the once unformed angel with wings now unfolded, the colors of the eternal […]
Unknown Passage
The current carried us far down stream, the ford of our crossing miles back past cliff walls and rock strewn rapids, an impossible return to the place of original intention. The power of the river greater than our single mindedness, it overwhelmed and carried us with the urgency of mountain, river’s desire for the sea. […]
Rising Then Gone
We travel on wind driven waves, our color the purple camas rising from the earth then gone, as winter green moss dries in the sun. We taste with hummingbird, our bodies aging like trees rough barked and looming, and we, the street lights of eternity lit for a time then gently going dark with all that […]
The Oldest Sound
Long ago words were spoken with the sound of trees, the whoosh of leaves, river water rolling stones and crows with lampblack feathers. We would listen then form our mouths to the ohs, the wahs, the kas, mouths shaped to our relations, to the sounds we heard within the great circle. Proud of our many […]
Tide Pull
The tide is pulling in a broad sweep of deep water, continents slipping toward a sea hungry for the mountain and all that lives on green land, wanting our memory, our love for the shore, to release ourselves like the fathomless ocean racing with abandon into the arms of the night. […]
Companion to the Suffering
Who doesn’t like the story of heroes returned from war with golden plunder yet I’m living in the village left behind, damaged, barely able to continue, the body’s anguish through simple tasks, the faltering step of bone on bone with muscles stuck, healing slower than a winter night. Strange the certainty as time shambles along […]
Spring Quartet
Womb of Earth What rests in darkness rises from the womb of earth, the seed of creation alive crown first, arms softly folded, determined to breathe and come forth through the trials of becoming, the promise born again and again. *** By the Gravity of Grief The rituals are small, unnoticed crafted with fallen branches […]
Deeper We Must Go
Deeper we must go through the hard crust of all we remember, below the waves disturbed and roiling, where desire softens, breath steadies, who we are and yet becoming open to the quiet aloneness of life, beyond prayer, beyond belief, following once more the unmarked way. […]
Iron Bound to Gratitude
She speaks about what’s passing and the travail to come, the devouring force come full upon its tail while silent ones iron bound to gratitude let another skin slip, daring to stand still while the wave rises to reclaim the earth in yellow buds, a spring smile on the old firs as raptors circle, green […]
Three Spirits Trilogy
Dance of Spirits
When I awoke the wind had come about with a bright moon shining, the sea racing south on the wind driven ebb. The fierce flow of energy traced on the waves like a dance of spirits in love with the night and all things living, while the people slept and the earth was free to […]
Wet Embrace
When it rains on the island there is wholeness in the water-soaked air, my body at home in the wet embrace of gray sky and low clouds, rain dripping from the eaves.
Something Like Joy
I slept through most of the big wind, tall trees swaying like grass, rain lashing the cabin dark. In the morning no motion, the ocean’s mood changed in a heartbeat; leaves so still they could be sleeping. Asleep or awake the earth goes on, the tide ebbing once more, yet something has changed. The delicate […]
World Almost New
When the storm passed light awakened the coastline gray and shrouded, sharp with detail. The cabins, the old dock, even the gulls in flight, bathed in a world almost new; as if sorrow were over and we could begin again.