Drifting Quietly
There are times in the month when the moon goes soft, her pull relaxed, diminished, leaving the sea to drift in a gentle whirl of sea bird and circling weed. A time when little moves, gulls cry lonely and questioning, moments to gather and reflect on what she has given and what may yet be […]
Speaking in Crow
Crows have taken the nearby point, dark shadowy forms against rough hewn rock, reed-like feet an after thought to their coal black feathers. Speaking in crow when one returns, with stories gathered from the sea, of how she stirs, lifting her veil, shocking us with her ancient face – us I say though featherless and […]
Something New
Everything continues as it has until it doesn’t, water flows downhill until it won’t, dinosaurs sleep in ice with green grass in their teeth, fearless armies march to Napoleon’s latest ditch. Then the long pause while power gathers within the sleeping earth, giants awaken and stars come to life with songs of something new. […]
To Walk the Ground
There are ghosts in every land, spirits the 1+1=2 world cannot comprehend, in the places of birth where elders watch our faltering steps. Whispering quiet music, shadows in the moonlight, calling us to live the life they hold in promise but cannot touch; needing our faulty vision and fumbling hands to write the words and […]
Alive to the Witness
It’s enough to be a man, to walk the path of suffering by the light of kindness, giving the gift of oneself however imperfect again and again; intimate with Her body, alive to the witness of the stars.
Returned to the Silence
Did I leave something behind on the far east journey, the now here out of focus and dreamscape so real? With old Earth close I should have thought about the part of me still at home, in the surge of desire, who may have slipped beneath the cover of a monk’s red robe and returned […]
Tiger’s Nest
The cave at Tiger’s Nest once birthed a Llama guarded now by fortress stone, jagged cliffs and scores of chanting monks. We climb the rain slick path, rutted and rough hewn, until the last flight of flagged steps pass beneath a spindrift waterfall, then rise into the blast of horn, murmured prayers and butter lamp […]
Thread of Freedom
Open now the inner gate to what is forgotten beyond the rim of the too worn world, an ancient image disturbing who would rather sleep and lose the thread of freedom.
Present in the Slough
Off the main river in the back channel behind cottonwood island, dark water and dank air; tracks of raccoon and deer along a muddy bank, quiet from the engines. The slow drift of summer, fetid with the valley wash, still a mystery despite its labor, with rocks as old as time. Something present in the […]
Dressed for Rain
I rest upon the rock like an old bent nail watching her changing face, of eddy line and standing wave, the swirls where tide meets bay birds touch and go forever feeding. Seals appear as if by magic, golden eagle brown and tan with spreading wing takes roost while two bald eagles arc to south […]
Rocky Slope
To know only storm is to miss the morning sea before the rising warmth lifts a breeze; the same with calm if that is your demand for then how will you join the wind in all its glory? The ebb gathers force hour by hour chasing invisible moon across the sky while otters wobble down […]
Renovation
Something had to change the inner structure incomplete; posts are missing, a beam or two. I seem to be leaning, slipping, the architect busy with eraser as so-called memories disappear, the carpenter’s pencil fat but sharpened like a knife. Timbers take the knife like trees took the saw, the forest but a field of corn, […]
Soundless Yes
Here in this room, this morning no machine sound, no gears or clockwork falling into place, just the soundless yes of your hair upon the pillow, your breath soft in pre-dawn light.
Ocean Winds
There’s a wind before first light with cool air through the window. The long arms of ocean reach the valley as people along the river surprise themselves with ancient signs drawn in ink upon their skin, of hidden life below the river, and ocean winds before first light.
Spread with Wings
Where angels gather, windswept rocks and rooted pine and raptors in their solace. There the burning is within, the flame whose wood is light igniting the record of all their choices, fueling the rise into deep blue, burning, letting go. Light and ash becoming seed, spread with wings upon the wind. […]