Kathleen
Tribute to Kathleen Cecil, wife and mother, teacher and artist, inspiration to many.
Portion Left Behind
I left part of me on the island, a shard of soul wedded to the immovable, standing against the gray fog crawling up the channel, buried in cool mist. More rock than flesh, more gull cry than voice, I hear it far away, feel it in my wandering feet, reminding me of what must be […]
Full Tide of Her Presence
The sea is a flowing gown diaphanous and filled with light; behind her subtle movements a touch of all that was intended in a moment of extraordinary birth. Beneath the surface, within a seed clothed by the fruit, the eminence of all this life will be when the old hunger dissolves, and the full tide […]
Beyond Certainty
The old ones knew direction, charting their course from an inner map rich with silence. Awake to the night, traveling with the moon, they found distant islands beyond the grasp of certainty. I ask for their guidance as I set out on the morning, feeling their comfort with the unformed unknown.
One Night Soon
One night soon I will follow the moon’s path
across the wide channel and over the islands
threaded like rosary beads
Every Sign and Signal
Let the river wash me, the moss and brown duff soften my footprint, the flicker of bird wings quiet desire. Moonlight paints the land in a silver unseen ‘til I rise and enter the night. Clouds boil through the valley, trees awash with summer rain; every sign and signal given.
Receiving the Pulse
The incoming waves gather in forceful pulse, yet when vision softens to the breadth before shore, long fingers of desire appear beneath oncoming wave. Reaching out from tree and rock with passionate welcome for the incoming flow, drawing color and sound to the roots of the land. The earth filling with ocean as she reaches […]
Rich Vein of Silence
The water lies still between dark and first light, without dawn’s warmth to raise the wind. In that quiet space the movement toward morning a rich vein of silence.
This is the Moment
The wind is cold on rock point; gulls cry out echoing aloneness, crows bark to protect their young fledges as eagle rides the thermals. It’s warmer in the cabin, easier to drink tea within the comfort than here where the air bites and a gray chill presses down. She’s emerged from Her chrysalis; I see […]
Weaving a New Pattern
A cold northerly wind follows the ebb tide, water and air temperature equal at half the human Fahrenheit, pushing back the effort to lessen the long grip of winter. I put my hands upon the Earth yesterday with saw and shear saying yes or no, thinning madrona that thrives on this rock, fighting back thorns […]
Oceans of Morning
One day of summer and again skies are heavy laden, air cool, water gray green and impassive; otter and I are alone in the cove, his speckled head popping up scanning the shore for predators, before arching his back in a fluid S diving below to an unseen depth. I want to travel to such […]
Summer Solstice
Madronas wave in the breeze, leaves and branches lofted like sail in a fluid green lattice flowing with sea force. Wind and tide, sun and cloud, half moon arcing across Mail Bay, the quiet tangible, visceral, nurturing yet invisible. Fluttering leaves and the deep well of solace, lifted from the ebb tide, stirring into the […]
Into the Forever Reach
Steady rain on the island, drip, drip, drip.. awakening swells across the channel, lifted by wind and tide. Ocean surging to the lunar pull, always lifting, rising until gravity drops and waters rush back. Waiting upon dark night with stars above the sea, listening for moon song to travel once more into the forever reach […]
Gaia’s Lover
She called out from an island, one among many of the inland sea. In first light he raced with the ebb keen to remain with the current for the miles yet to travel, yet as she lifted the veil from her beauty he startled and turned, his gaze then his boat, paddling toward the vision […]
Calm in the Rapids
Together we hear the waterfall like thunder in the distance; rapid after rapid the spills and breaks have worn thin our gear, our determination. We carry an image in our hearts of a green valley beyond the precipice, yet the fear of what approaches runs through our nerves like water. We cannot reverse; the river […]