Clear Water
I go where nothing’s bitter and nothing sweet, only clear water below the mountain, cleansed by stone in dark caverns, given to the light.
Sentinels
Looking down the broad avenue a strange tidal river runs of cars, trucks and bicycles flowing into the city with the gravity of commerce; wires and cables cross tall trees driven to the pavement, supporting a tangle of electricity. I look past the roar and metal to the distant sky, yet wonder about these solitary […]
Your Story
Your story rests within the earth old and unending, rising from the deep forest on gnarled and twisted roots to the lifting trunk and furthest branches. A story of one life with all its suffering and struggle to renew, year upon year, ring after ring, yielding finally to the authentic; becoming exactly who you are […]
Ancient Pulse
The solar arc turns southward as the high days of long light begin their descent to autumn. The aberration of war continues yet beneath layers of leaf and root an older rhythm commands: rivers to the sea, hummingbirds to cross the broad equator, and soul to gather the ancient pulse into a new day. […]
Wings to the Sky
Wings to the sky, the sea bird heads out across the water, such faith in a feather, lifted above the wind stirred sea, the heart beat yearning for what may be found on the further shore.
From This Day Forward
From this day forward the landscape unknown – no map, no signpost, no tradition repeats. Earth herself a carapace shaken and shed by inner truth, into the embrace of the stars.
The Lion Waits
The lion in me waits hungry for unseen light, gnawing on a hollow bone to gather strength from the river beneath the Earth.
Born Again
The warranty said limited life but it is summer, my daughters are here with their own children and I’m still alive, rising with the sun like vapor from dew-soaked grass. The ancient river always new descends to an unseen ocean, as I gather and hold these days, born again with the soft voice of a […]
Across the Great Distance
Winds gust from the south pushing the flood tide into gravel reaches, soaking the stone feet of an ancient rock wall with images carved by all that’s gone before. Vigilant in what is yet to come and from this place between past runes and future dreams, I call to you, joining us across the great […]
Helen
(for my mother’s sister) What an old thorn you’ve been for me and I for you; once a young green tare pulled into our bodies by the weight of my mother’s death. Tearing the flesh of family belief, the images of common origin in the womb of your mother where all this began and those […]
We Look through Glass
(for Linda) I find you as I look past the clog of wires to the hummingbird in the plum tree, past the thrum of motor to children’s voices from the church. Where people have abundance there seems such deprivation yet also the sweetness of home. The beauty in your eyes and the way we look […]
Reflections
Apocalypse and judgment day may occur somewhere in Montana, but the real arbiter resides within where final choices are made on those who’ve done us wrong, and more painfully, on our own most grievous sins. We really can’t forgive without seeing the cold truth, then we are left with the choice: to love our enemies, […]
Her Invitation
I rediscover myself by the sea like an uncharted island or lost archipelago of feeling, of centeredness. The tides lay bare my rock then fill the hollow cove eroded by the expectations I continue to approve. The theater of our mutual lives demands respite, sanctuary for bones made sore by the unyielding surface we’ve agreed […]
What Will Draw Me
What will draw me from the unleavened mass, to rise beyond the rigid shape and rule of expectation to one breath of air, one glimpse of daylight and the knowledge so rare of freedom.
Calling Us Down
Before the wars and violence there was light upon the sea, and wind from the south, stirring. Before we sacralized our hunger, fish flowed like the tide, with otter and eagle brimming the shoreline. Before the internet and electricity we connected through the land, sending messages into the deep, with faith inspired by the rising […]