Cold clouds, white in the greying skies
deep, they loom in the snowy heights
a frozen state, this silent place
where we have come
Ice, thick walled, that waits for spring
the trickle of water, that flows beneath
to see beyond cloud occlusions
our doleful delusions
Buried by northerly drifts of snow
our love, cold and far below
banked and piled high
lost to winter’s long goodbye
Only a desert of blowing dust
a junk yard of weathered metal rust
the brutal blare of scorching sun
the cold of winter’s raining snow
an ever changing, tricky season
a killing storm without reason
only a metaphor to explore
the hot and cold – of you
that I deplore.
When you pass this way
will you think of our long burning hours
the melting, the rendering as one,
radiant, the raveling of our two souls?
Or will you think only of the untangling,
the tattering of our love – apart?
Will the evening shadows cast
a glow across the prairie fields,
the flowers that we picked?
Or will a wistful wind brush your face,
indelibly, now in some lonely place
where we once stood?
First the soft biting
lips and all the rest
your hands, this landscape
a smooth curved road
of breath hot summer, the swelter
this endless sky, an ocean to discover
salt water of my lover
You are of the ocean
of lime, salt water green seaweed
clinging, brown threaded, verily suspended
ebbing in the far off edges, unseen
steeped in luminous moons, mad colored
a time traveler, plumbing ageless depths of sea
strung with opulent pearls, swallowed by hourglass sands
a light discovered, bright in the shoal shimmering lands.
The air here is slow, it breathes like steam
a fog bank hovers, settles within
time does not tick ahead
I stare at minute hands
this room is silent snow
falling, colored blue – then drifts
cold through broken windows
a fragmented dream
of you
The rain it pooled deep within the leaf, the hollow
and drank there – insect, vole and swallow
along a mud and marshy path, my feet for to follow
and tread upon the lichen moss, I sank softly greening
and watched all the day, the trickle of the woodland trees
the light that breathed there glistening
Swift, the rain in colors grey
black the daylight whisked away
by steely skies, charcoal smudged
the ashen clouds amid blowing winds
surreal this field, this pelted land
the scream of hurried birds, that scatter
Cool cloud shrouded air, here where I find myself
surrounded by giants, legends, these mountains
I am miniscule as one grain of sand
the people here are giant, green saguaros
holey, with birds that live within
they are fit with wild reaching arms
guardians of the desert land
anchored, deeply grounded
in this whirling vortex
unhurriedly they grow
blooming yellow flowered
with petals that pale and fall
they are true friends
that I have come
to know
Blue flowered in the warm sun of winter
pungent fragrance wafts splendorous
smallish leaves, grow deeply green
with a sun-ward slant they lean
hum and sing with bees
reaching ever upward
wild, their fingers untamed
vigorous, they flourish
lushly in the lane
our hands grow green stained
here in a dream field
handfuls of rosemary
we steal
Vast, this snowy land
still and deep the quiet country
cold the cloudy fog we breathe
gasping winds that rise and break the silence
along a fence line, slowly disappearing
how small the trees and distant hills that fade like smoke
and loom the clouds like ghosts, blooming madly white – the sky
if in winter we should meet deep along some snowy height
gazing as the grey and whites fade swiftly into night
some evening silently await the moon, void of words to speak
with great Peace – to breathe beneath the great north star that shines
To end this, is to run blindly – falling
loose limbs wild and flailing
with hands that can no longer grasp
a saving grace, a final branch
we are lost in desolation
it is pure wilderness
a long winter’s night
with no path or tracks
to follow, cold like snow
we plow this landscape, barren
deep and dark below
to seep into the soul
lingering long in limbo
the ache of holding on
transformed into
the pain of
letting go
Storm clouds
of black thunder
electrical, magnetic powered
sparks lashing, loose wired
consumed by lightening fire
a wild red, blazing blue
hot, the smouldering coals of you
the final burning through
a certain kind of death
grey the ashes
of our truth
These things take time
like the desert spiny lizard
now dessicated and dried
run over, flattened and tough as leather
too slow for the speed limit
of twenty five, found on my way
to check the mail, I mourned a little
always waiting for unpredictable things
to arrive, these things take time
like the rusting of street signs
the perfectly smooth stones
tumbled and refined
or today noticing the hole
in the sole of my shoe
that’s now worn through
there were ten days
of blaring hot sun, we melted some
but today, yes today
the clouds did come.
Nightfall, dark with planets
cold desolate sky home
stars amid nebulous winds, swirling
cool, icing, caked in frozen states
cynosure of volatile fates
the fiery red that melts blue
tonight a slow float of milk clouds
a diaphanous, transient veil
drifts its way across
the moon, so pale
Lonesome
this dying fire
the darkening sky
now, barely a glint of sun
a dismal line of light
swift that fades into the night
starless black water
this mirror pool
reflections of
you and I
When I dream this desert turns green, blooms
clouds race where mountain lions loom
ash gray, the cool of blue rain comes
a redolent wind of desert sea
rushing waves, sand blown
sculpted saguaro forests
pale flowered yellow
drinking every drop
now this eve we drink
now before another dawn
of the mad thirsty sun
My lips are cracked leather
lizard dry, my breath melts into mirage
beetles emerge from dark caves
in flashes of iridescence, crawling
their tiny tracks, surreal sand paintings
art for cactus wren, hunting
Here, beyond yet another
sparkling diamond mound
lies a wild sea of the sailing ships, I’ve found
Winter, the amber fire
of ashen woods, we burned
wet the smoulder of mire
the water and the fire
dark ancestress home
nights, moon shivering, cold
stars fixed or falling
beyond the skies fiery yields
only dying embers
lost in oblivion’s field
When I travel far from crowds
find myself grey, in the raining clouds
I run far into the cedar woods
of green and mossy loam
with birds, I fly from storms
deep in a world
sweet with maidenhair ferns
soft the moss, to touch
as newborn rabbit’s fur
many the hour
under sparkling trees
of yellow maples glistening
the chirping words, of smallest birds
that I can never see
echo sweet, I dream and sleep
sink into perfect peace
beneath the rainforest canopy
Cerulean blue, the mad rippling
how I crave water, sometimes even green
in Spring the melting of me
smooth stoned, to go slipping
pools and pools, swimming
to feel an ocean here inside
a storm of clouds collide
unhinged from fire’s dream
a torrent, a waterfall
of holy water
evaporating into
steam
To enter shallow water
feel the cooling cold of our toes
smooth the slippery stones
move, the deeper we go
to cross a blood red river
ever to dredge the soul
deep in places unknown
we walk through a door
though many still sleeping
remain waiting at
the shore
I am surrounded by night, windless
hot as fever, even more troubled
the places I’ve called home, abandoned
along with everyone, days in a desert alone
I speak to no one, only the sky
the night moon, my mother
whispers in metaphor
something brilliant
I tremble, quiver
in time with
the stars
Some days, this desert
under spells of sun and moon
think, I brood in fields of agave blue
the angled sun blares sharp to parch
to dry, to crackle leaves to dust
tricky this prickly pear cactus
bitter thorns, laden with
impossible blood sweet fruit
while high and seen out the corner
of my eye, the half moon smiles
beguiled by the sun
Be gentle as you breathe
your days away
all count
How I loved your mouth
the way your words belled forth
rang in soothing song
your lips and all the rest
days of coming home
in meadows or prairie suns
by love’s fiery field
how we were
consumed
Never call me, on nights fierce with storm
blowing wild with lightening, thunder
no never, and though fretful, I tremble
through raging rains
I go alone
Please don’t come over
leaving little notes, so clever
hot and cold, was our weather
farewell my lover
alas it is finally over
Love silent, falls
it touches soft, invisibly floats
unseen by the scope of eyes
comes brushing by, or comes in a down pouring,
wet washing the soul, unwavering, wordless it unfolds
travels most rugged terrain, smooths the way
there is no season for its efflorescence
it sits, a silent bud, any moment to flower
always we know it’s fragrance
it is the way, the path
a flitting, ethereal flower
one, that we can never grasp
Sonoran desert
sacred hot breathed
scorch of footsteps, blood red sands
sun bleached, grey boned skulls
this wash, a hallowed holy ghost
unnerving place, this hiss of fire
molten and slow
hot as fever, red prickling sweat
the Yaqui man you’ve met
undulating in a purification ceremony
lashing, the energy cords cut
he is laughing like coyote, wild eyed
green the velvet, desert peyote
and you have come to understand
the universe in a fleck of sand
Gathering colors of day
sea of green viridian, washing storms of grey
seagulls cry in shades colored blue
how mad the ocean’s raving tune
it sweeps away the end of day, a hopeful sun
to paint the sky of blackness
paleness of moon
rises, fades
beyond the sway
of silvery shades
night shimmers its way
into red and blue
where fiery clouds ignite
the day once more anew.
I tried water
wading, floating, drowning
the pooling and spilling of years
immersed myself holy,
deeply to find the fear
dark in the deep end
the coming home to soul
the pain of it all
unknowingly I’d slept
heart wrecked
frozen in fear
unwilling to look
until there was
no other choice
until one day discovering
hidden truths beyond
my darkest void
My heart of sleeplessness
awakens me foolish
moonless from my rest
ache of cells and blood
a torrent, a flood
a rushing river
reaching for your hand
your reddened lips
soft a place to land
The moon has fallen
tonight a plum blackened sky
dark, this starless void
Thirsty, a parched pale yellow
this milkweed, dandelion field
dried silky seeds blowing wild
hot cracking leaves
lightening trees afire
forests and burning meadows
with eyes that sting
I can but see, spectrally
the smokey sun
breathe a deathly air
that chokes the lungs
creatures gasp and run
in moments ever dire
they flee frightfully
amid falling trees
of fire
Walking the dirt path, down around
the gold brown hills that spill into the orchard
apples baked in the oven, sun of summer
and in September they are done
red, we dressed with honey cinnamon
the air was bliss, the trees, the ancient harvest
with baskets full, the way our hearts overflowed
this was a place we called heaven, but now you are in the trees
in the sweeping fields of turquoise seas, in the stars that never cease
here, where you once imagined and could only dream to remain as ever
A thirsty desert dweller
my lips parched and cracked
from lack of rain
I wait for hours
days for love
to reign
Oh when I was north, cold
and white as snow geese
blue on water ice, I’d fly
glide on frozen ponds
cry with snowflake eyes
sigh of winter’s long goodbye
Tonight in this garden
a million flowers loom
clouds of gypsophila bloom
at my window and beyond
with fragrant vines, they crawl
saturate, scented paper walls
these night lilies, only a dalliance
that blooms and fades
your hands soft upon my legs
we are drunk from dulcet wine
sung from the whisper of moon that dips
caress of your reddened lips
as we travel in a world
lilting softly slow
I am in the fire, my love
I cannot tarry, cannot extinguish
nor distinguish right from wrong
sometimes places I don’t belong
I am desolate in a desert, resurrected, burned
deep in fields of sage
a breath of fiery blaze
the pull and push away
I lay in a bed of ashes
feel this rebirth
watch another death
blow away.
Sink deep your feet
the moss and muddy floor
grey with rain
the weeping moss
hanging in the trees
ravens cry, calling thee
into the starless void
of moonless canopy
a hidden place
wherein the soul illuminates
a cynosure of deeper truths
a dark that lights the way
This house, it does not speak of me
I am unknown to these adobe walls
these cool clay floors
I press my feet against
wanderlust, I dance
desert nights alone, I roam
these sands to drink of moon
thirst for stars to call me home
I travel endless nights
painted blue with black
wait for sunlight
to warm my room
once more to lay
in wild fields
with you
Deep, a hundred fathoms or more
beneath froth and foam
azure seas fade into
blackest indigo
Flashing flecks, of minnows
in the deep waters, a shoal
a swimming wave that sways
in fields of orange coral
In the depths of cold
a glowing, ghostly art
a million silver stars
shimmer with light
flash amid water’s black sky
If I could see you shining
clear in mirrored waters
if you’d come to rest
in green fields
of peace
sweetly sleep
breathe in sync
with me
When I wait for northern lights, the sky void of moon
and too the sun has gone, a silence of blue green light comes
like colored ghosts of whirling skies, it flies
and I no longer think of stars
I can only dream to fly, to shine
magenta in magnetic fields
But tonight it is you
that burns across, beyond the heavens
dazzling brilliantly, now beyond this earthly plane
to join a symphony of seas and stars out there, unknown
gathering in the ethers of forever
Last night I dreamed of you
smiling, as you laid
in green fields laughing
and tonight I will see you
in the northern lights
shining
Nights, we take the boat out
paddle our way, green through water
swum by inlet waves, full moon apace
shadowy, ancient tribal faced
lose all trace of the shore, black
but for phosphorescence
glowing, trailing from the oars
a haunting, ghostly art
green and breathing, disappearing
back into darkness, swallowed
by black water, by night
strange this death,
the rebirth and breath
felt in each and every moment
When I drive that road
past sun bleached stones
of minerals and bones
take the turn off at Dragoon
fly past cattle guards and farms
the road that leads
to your house
my view askew
a parallax
I rue
desolate
the cold
moon-blue
of you.
It was desolate, with a winter cold
we drove the cemetery road
miles past sage brush and cactus
Saw signs pointing toward a ghost town
we turned onto a gravel road
leading to the desert cemetery
an abandoned place, mostly unknown
Many headstones old and eerie
cowboys and ranchers plenty
hazards of the pioneer west
babies, children of homesteaders
laid too young to rest
Hand fashioned crosses
still stood, marking graves
without a word
I thought how
each of us one day
will be forever unknown
Sometimes
before you arrive
I imagine the drive
the dusty winds
roads blown sand blind
the breath hot desert
red upon your back
the drown of dripping sweat
a mirage, a swimming lake
an oasis, of mind escape
how you travel as saguaro fields fly by
Early in the morning
blue skies of birdsong
winging in summer
sing sweetly of dawn
awakened from dreaming
the day is unfolding with love
early in the morning with the sun
open the blossoms at blue lily pond
no words spoken only reflection within
early in the morning with the sun.
Moon winds pretend to know me
clouds steal the sky away
never knowing my name
only a diaphanous veil
what game
night stars
play
A susurrus wind
of chaparral lingers on
after the rain, in the heat of day
behind mountainous clouds
the hissing sun will scarcely fade
until at dusk it finally crawls
and swiftly snakes away.
That grasping glance
the moment we don’t look back
the fall and plunge, the coming undone
drinking deep of August’s moon
sweet the jasmine vines
spilling with perfume
the impossible tangling
of we two
This is a familiar vigil
a walk that turns to run
a drenching lovely rain
a practiced pain
that melts of
scorching sun
Only a taboo train
for immigrants
castaways rolling
steel wheeled
waiting to derail
Still we enter
this frightful tunnel
through blinding blackness
the heart we gamble
to reach the other side
This desert, with blinding beauty burns
a season of birds, always coming, going
before the sun, the raining grey of clouds
we traveled miles over hills leading up and outward
with all its budding ways, the glowing days of May
fragrant petals faded into summer
scorch of our lips, how we slipped
into the ways of reign and fire
our love, only a smouldering pyre
These women, they are old
in touch with ancient ways
the dredging of deeper points
they’ve come to know
and show, without hiding
Their faces are worn weathered maps
lines and holy roads
with soulful eyes
smiling they settle
and sit you down
beside them
In their circle of fire and knowing
these women of the earth
serve milky tea and mirth
their laughter resounds
it pounds the heart
grounds you there
in the fervent pureness
of your tears
A fevered pulse
though sweat moves slow
as night falls
fast upon our bed
breath of steam
we float like dream
to fill the hollows
sink, we swallow
the light of gold
we seek to follow
hear a blue calling
under the ache of stars
as the moon blooms
softly sallow.
Mouth, hands and all the rest
the way you dressed your words
a sort of singing, musical, fanciful
the captivating notes
how they lured me
I fled to escape
your haunting ways
whispers still that
keep me
awake
This morning, upon my wall
with lilies, lilies tall
sun shadows
the beauty
of it
all
Colors
and flowers
birds of dawn
in the singing trees
has only ever been a dream
It was Spring
we drove the narrow highway
southward from Bisbee to Douglas
near to the Mexican border
The town was poor
there were discount stores
sales and signs written in Spanish
there were silk flower shops
brightly colored bouquets
people carrying funeral arrangements
Many were the words
spoken in Spanish
many the beautiful
brown skinned people
all around the town, and soon we found
that we were quite strange
and oddly, apparently foreign
Your eyes are blue water
lovely drowning pools, I swim
some days
seemingly the sun
across summer fields
always, daisies moving toward you
an uprooted child, replanted
you flourish in earth and sky
dirt black hands in loamy soils
deeply rooted from the core
your salty sweet lips
are orchard fruits and fields to kiss
your arms hold worlds of weight
or fragrant flowers to embrace
with gentle wings, you’ve come
softly touching down, a ripple, a rainfall
washing clear my soul – undone
There was a bird, that time, a flicker
they always remind me of you
the melt of spring fever, the tapping on the roof
how like snow, the petals flew
that window, the rain, the rainbows too
the breath and sigh of you
our springtime walks
the way the forest talked
soon of summer to come
we were completely undone
unchained in the falling rains
sweet like music the call
of your name.