Poems

How when days were like rivers, unending

the slow flow of beginnings, the fearless floating

of dreams, until the startle, the rift and ripple

of awakening

How when days were like friends, warm comforts

mornings came right in, igniting the heart

of polished stone, soft and smooth

to hone the soul

How when nights were long, of stars

moons lighting all the world, the trees

bright how branches shadowy loomed

moving like breath

made a billows of

my room

How when visions came, sleep was late

roaming deserts in the dark

listening, kneeling at nature’s altar

no language of words, no ego

nothing to falter

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

Old books, older still the dust

lost library, forgotten world of words

through vertical windows, distorted glass

of years past, watch shapes of trees

colored birds fly by

dusty poem, room of

melancholy

rhyme

Black and white photos

framed upon the mantle

how long our memories

shining wild, to light a room

how long do we think them

ever full bloom

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 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

You lingered far too long

with rain clouds, your morning fog

I waited in mists of rain, the days

for sun to warm, to wrap it’s arms once more

to watch the steam of scented cedars

I sat silent under great trees

of a rhododendron forest

kept looking for buds

a hint of flowers

to come

Nights, when I don’t see you

trailing in stars

or by the light of moon

however bright

blackness takes my sight

a shooting star – I fall

back to everything

and nothing

at all

Gathering chaparral, just after rain

sticky leaved, miniscule, green

tiny bundles, scented woody

now one, with earthen hands

under a winter moon, garland star stitched

pitch of juniper, pinion fire

only a dalliance this

fragrant desert

pyre

Cool December rains

sticky desert chaparral

fragrant mistletoe

Of trees, the whirling of leaves

how soon the days, changing

streets of rain, storms of grey

winter winds, chilling

sleep, I dream of love and lilies green

imagine how words softly fall

disappearing, now swift I go

beyond, lose my mind

to all

If we could go shining

glinting gold off water

far and flying, doves

words would never falter

only sweet, to sing of home

falling gently from soft reddened lips

then we as flowers would ever bloom like song

Blooming

How like a fever this red sky burns of fire

impossible sun, hot orange ember

never to grasp, melts so quick the day

a fire extinguished, vanishes into night

black sea of coal, this place

colorless my sight

sinks slight, my heart with sorrow

drifts ever in night’s darkness

ever into the unknowns

of tomorrow

Green the day, that moves in waves

of gentle blowing winds your way

sweet you slept, caressed

on mossy laden ground

silent ripples on blue lily pond

I, a singing bird of sun

that calls to you in the middle of a dream

hearts, water lilies – opening

adrift in the middle of a song

we, two singing birds

of only love

Looking at apples, my mouth of juice

longing to taste one delicious bite

I stand under this tree

for days

I climbed many a splintered fence

saw you from a great distance

sturdy branches, your arms

leafy crown of thorns

and charms

In trees where ravens fly

from blackest skies

to shelter storms

days of clouds

and cruel raining winds

where even strongest branches falter

To the trees, to sun

to birds and the ways of love

to breath – I thank you

If you could look my way

maybe you would

stay?

In the stillness I found myself bound by

ten thousand days and nights

in a fire red desert

you were dancing, chanting

praying for rain, for tears

to drown, wash my soul down

to the earth, bear my rebirth

your hands red clay, shaped

burnt offerings, smudge grey sage

snake whispers cloaked in skies of smoke

hum of drums

leather bound polished stones

with peyote, I have gone

home where the

earth and sky

become one

Shapeshifter

I laugh

no future

no past

Of you,

I speak of

softest petals, always kissing

flowers, full bloom

wet drops, your reddened lips

pour darkest cherry wine

all the day, watercoloring

my skies

Black charcoal, thunder clouds reign

a torrid storm of heartbeats pound

your strangling hands, choking land

muddied, we breathe through

gasp of living much too fast

we come seeking love, drown in fear’s

torrential flood, in a world run

by men with hearts of

black obsidian

Tonight in this garden

a million flowers boom

clouds of gypsophila loom

at my window and beyond

with fragrant vines, that 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

all other time is now lost

as we travel this world

lilting softly slow

Walking this trail, all is strange

I am still round, attempting square pegs

the evening desert with its saguaro looking people, my friends

snakes, and the hissing heat of day they now crawl away

into the melting sea sky of orange, red

into the indigo rising, turning black

no sound of cities, no world out there to cry

only the calling of stars, like musical notes

songs twinkling in time with

the hot honey yellow moon.

two birds

a sky disappearing

lost in clouds with you

soft cotton, downy feathers blue

now soon the end of day

gives way, dark as indigo

black, as light strays away

we bathe with blinking stars

through windows sparkling blue

candles of the moon, our room

of fruits and wildflowers strewn

here we lay, only to die

only to bloom

Black geese on the waves today

crashed, then flew away

blackness was the water

that called my name, late

and never again the same

deep dark well, a cave

I went looking in, the deeper

I go, ever an echo

that calls my name

naked, stripped of shame

my heart revealed

never again

the same

Pretty they said, oh but it was summer

when she bloomed, and wildfires came along

dancing across fields – wind songs

blowing through her mind

and there she stayed

sleeping much too late

to flee the lake of fire

Sometimes half asleep, scribbling words

or waiting for the morning sky to deliver birds

I fall off the edge, leave this tiny bed

float on rainy streets, there is no one that I meet

only a corner vacant house, where precious paintings hang

I am staring in the window, at flowers yellow, blue

this must be the room of Vincent Van Gogh, this starry night

with lily ponds so beautiful, fields of flowers

purple iris, Monet meadows

brown skin woman, hibiscus flowered

island scenes of Paul Gauguin, so brightly colored

there are pastel Degas dancing ballerinas

Marc Chagall, blue indigo people

without legs, they smile surreal

this museum of the mind

minutes like hours

turned sublime

It felt at first – tangled, then more of an unraveling

hair in hands vanished, how softness fell

swept across the room, and soon

shadows in the sky

lost in moon fog’s tide

glowing, the shining of two souls

the seek and hide

the reappearing of

you and I

Driving arctic valley road

early morning, silence of deep snow

grey winds collide with windows

impossible how snowflakes fall

haunting songs, play my radio

winding on a north country road

branches lay heavy, low

snowy owl calls

further the winter

drives deep, my soul

further the winter

quiet valley of snow

that drives me

home

I shall not come in from outdoors, I am deep in storms

watching waves of clouds, pitching black skies

the beauty of raindrops makes me cry

wet washing, my soul reborn

I am gone, traveled through the storm

tossed and torn, now resurrected from

the ashen fire, my heart

of crystalline

When you go by

floating the way you do

tonight, beneath brightest moons

airy you’ll fly, don’t have to try

while I, made of fire

flicker awhile awaiting

only your breath of air

souls bared, together

alas we shall build

flame red skies

Along this pilgrimage made

with candles lit by the sun, vast desert communion

seeking connection to the one, here in this fiery church

where I have found lost souls, sun bleached bones

drinking of sun and moon, coyote haunting calls

saguaros wandering to and fro

all are parched for water

cactus leaning, I am kneeling

here at this earthly altar

awaiting resurrection

I have come to pray

watching nights and days

like fires, burn away

blue, how salt corrosion eats away

falling leaves, dead decay

here, then gone away

oh and there were rivers

climbed upstream

sleeping to lose yourself

in dreams

red the rust

of a long vacant stay

cold, the break away

how grey rains sway

uncaring of our names

orchard of trees

the dying bees

our fruit hung, with disease

lost to blight

falling to

our knees

When winter wears a grey, black cloak

dark skies cover, swallow me whole

I go walking in fields of snow

to see the light, the glistening of soul

when I am very far from home

building fires

to find my way within

when no one

can be found

there beside me

I wait for you, slow

how cold moons glow

to light a darkened room

sleep, I dream of you

I have traveled home

I am nearly reborn

sitting with ancestral bones

a warrior’s path – alone

sifting veiled dust

of the past

Crows fly, blacken skies

thunderous drums

my heart in sync

amid this sacred

burial ground

this raining red sky

the blood of teardrops cried

Sacred dawn

Oh, sure I could lose myself in gardens, oceans of flowers

but not today, today I have reserved for the revelations

of the soul, the deep calling of watery waves

I dive below, rocky ways and slipping sands

sifting moments of this day, searching

for unknown pieces, that break away

feeling a longing unnamed

glints of gold reflections

all these connections

that carry me home

and away

In those days we shined, reflected like mirrors

pebbles thrown, ripples wind blown, your heart

it was silk upon my lips, soft butterfly wings

we grew like trees, to the clouds

in downy feathered love

floating amidst the fleeting sky

of our sunset – leaving

How can I ever paint the sky with mere words?

my language, pales northern lights

waves of color impossible to derive

from ghostly glowing skies

spirit merges, flies

Giant skyward leaning

shedding leaves, do you dream long

of summer’s greening?

The gold of days have waned

the gray rains sway

fall will leave you

cold in winter’s lay.

Seemingly a thousand years old

a seedling sown

born of an ancient

maple forest.

Your eyes are meadows

as if wildflowers abloom

dizzy, dazzling blues

I am tracing your lips, circling round

my mind is racing clouds

a woozy, drunken head

the night a tapestry

an art of ancient weaving

beneath a velvet sky

our lily white sighs, breathing

under the crush of moon

we crash and dream

after the wilds

of wooing

In this world

starry eyed, we bloom

petals silk your lips, sing

sweet violet songs to me

a drifting scented dream

blue sea of you and me

When after night has flown, starry blue

to other lands, until tomorrow

when just before the light of dawn

in streams of gold upon the lawn

the world still violet hued, pinkish blue

soon bursts on fire, a blaze of red

silence is the wind upon the clouds

silence of colors, the sky speaks aloud

rearranging the mind, the heart like petals

of a million flowers all abloom

Gone,

the warm summer grass we laid upon

in daisy dreams of gold, yellow suns

today walking barefoot on the lawn

cool rain awakes the autumn dawn

dewdrops disappearing in the ground

a chill has come with breath cold lungs

to breathe upon the earth and trees

bringing summer’s fire to her knees

and with a final gasp will swallow

molting leaves red and gold

falling to the earth

fallow

Waterfall, the swell of rains will come

fierce a wind that takes our breath and then is gone

the mad sailing, that leaves us to the wild seas

borne of oceans, ripped away, lost to vacant longings

we wait the temperamental moons of coming, going

always seeking for other shores, anchors

to hold our souls, unchained, reclaimed

in foreign lands, hearts to mend

and still another storm

will come

rustic rain

brown-yellow hills

crows circle a carrion kill

I’ve come for resurrection to bleed against the sky

thirst of deserts longing, cool water washings

bones, abandoned skulls – sun bleached white

prayer offerings for an earthy altar

here where death is hallowed

How kind the early day came

smiling through our window

soft as yellow, pale blue shone through

lavender infusions of deep indigo

a scented morning tea, this herbal garden

awake from dreaming, night is weaving

it’s final star into the dawn

we are sleepy as flowered penstemon

waiting for the gold of sun

our hearts open

lotus flowers floating

ever peaceful

this tranquil

pond

I am lost in mourning winds, a desert sand drift

a dandelion wisp buried in ocean depths

an emptiness in the blue of longings

this traveling is slow mud, I trudge

blue red fields of life’s blood

the disappearing of the ones I love

they have flown far and gone

leaving me to linger

looking for the sun

the moon to come

and so I walk on

Oh, bird how can you sing?

and today of all days you bring

little twigs and colors green

to fall among dead flowers.

Do you know of this lost garden?

How can your heart beat so

amidst such troubled, sorrow?

Still you fly joyous in the morning sky

lighting hearts afire in the early dawn

long before the sun.

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 and too our hearts had overflowed

this was a place we called heaven and 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

Dedicated to my brother Curtis and all those departed from the earthly plane

When I wait for northern lights, absent is the moon

and too the sun has gone, silence of blue green lights come

like colored ghosts of whirling skies, they fly

and I no longer think of night 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

Dedicated to my dear brother Curtis, who passed away this morning.

It has been a difficult year, with the death of my Father in Jan and now my brother.

It is hollow, drab, beyond the dark green

beyond the deep of viridian forests

it goes slipping, silently past

it breathes low, seeking darkness

with susurrus sounds will haunt you

circling your mind and soul, to shake you

Awake in mellifluous dreams

soon drifts some fears, far beyond this day

you are laughing, always like flowers

an evanescence that cannot stay

Always making your way

to and from the full or hollow

places that make you

Cedar tree, your arms wild in the wind

red bark, blue rain that comes again

storm drenched, looking where we’ve been

sponge mud footprints, left herein

and in the gold of days there is incense, sunning

warmth soaking the green forest in

a path leading outward

that leads back in

whispers awaken the

soul within

Though you have been on this road

complete with wild green grass fields

soaring skies and birds, floating blue sea waves

Your smiling heart is but an ocean tide

and so rips away to another side

storms and sails fly, cracking skies

will pour vacant, raining grey

The mud ruddy road you’re on

soon will dry, and to the sun

once more you’ll soar

and fly

Stars at night, long the hours

watching animal spirits deep in the wooded wilds

tracing circles round the moon, glowing

translucent spiders weaving webs

floating at the edge, before diving in

oceans of sailing green seas

waves newly born, bright as sparks

lightning in the dark, igniting hearts

fiery blue, water too, the earth and air runs through

basking in other worldly realms of moon

with hearts, pure white where lilies bloom

home, where the soul of the sea is borne

drenched in storms of falling star seas

yours is a place wilder, than these.

Wind, wind it came in

I was glad it did, the way it blew

around my heart and through

a place of hollow blue, a storm

warm of drumming beats in sync

went swirling round my head

a flutter of butterflies flew on

through morning fog

a song was heard of

leafy trees and birds that speak

connecting me once more

the breeze that blows

to shake the soul

of me, quite free

all the day listening

to the earth

and all the ways

of wind

After some time, there are no words spoken

only an awakening in the silence

of a blue light dawn, a moment

where stars linger on

a portal is found

where the soul

lives on

and on

Ages have gone with all the colors run

shadows of a northern home

a memory in sepia with dust upon the mantle

a woman’s face behind the veil

the evening light streams in.

The room in layers golden, yellow

how strange a glow that lights her face

and faint a smile’s revealed.

In the garden, a bird, a flower

gold the edge, gold the dawn that hovers

a song of summer, a tiny sparrow perched

long upon the woody yarrow, that musky fills the air

a redolent warmly breeze, brushes by the maple trees

caressing sweet the singing leaves and breathes the air of heaven

in the gold of a halcyon summer

beyond the hills of sage, grey plumes

the stark blue sky cloudless looms

and sings with birds in lilting waves high above the field

they break the silence in a world transformed

a song – void of man’s ordinary words.

I am delirious, lingering from days

frayed at both ends, especially the head

and knotted in the middle, a rope tightened

round the heart, squeezing beats out

in stops and starts, oh but this how

we play the game, it’s sweaty palmed,

brow furrowed fun, with far too many clocks

cold halls to walk, amongst holy ghosts

tearing through white sheeted rooms, they haunt

or sometimes they bring invisible healing

placing flowers in colorful rings

and garlands circling round the bed

and in the night, only blue white light

to fill a room, basked in love

a tattered heart to mend

Where sleeps the crescent moon

and drifts bright stars away

to bring a song of light

glowing from a thicket there

where tawny birds take flight

or dappled in the wooded trees

foggy breathes the morning light

with rousing sounds of faeries there

drowsy in their dreaming cares

they bid farewell unto the night,

to stars that sail swift into the evanescent light.

Now springs another day from this woodland place

soft with mossy grays or starry lichen lace

green the leafy ferns will wake

with scented rains, wet upon the bark

incense cedars drift and swirl

sweet, the air of smoke

until alas the sun, so brilliant comes

from behind a clouded cloak

and disappears once more

the dawn that softly spoke.

Many colors the ocean of golden sun

through darkness, shines a starlit home

a portal of moon, behind a cloud that comes

and fades the black into the endless dawn

and finds a place, heaven sent that sacred

shines upon the soul

The moon has left the sky

no longer does it shine, nor stars glittering fall

only nights draped in coldest black, as if winter

as if a northern squall, bangs upon the shutters

a pounding in my heart, emptied hollow

a memory, your face sullen sallow

now only a breathless shadow

across the fields

of my days

It was only ever flowers, in a meadow wild

tangled tendril vines, of blue eyed passiflora

caressing stems of blooming heart, delicate dicentra

shining silver in early summer, a pond of silken mirrors

leafy vines of garland rings, nature weaved

perfectly a tranquil scene of bonny swans

float silently amidst fallen petals

soft nests of downy feathers, wispy on the winds

that a woodland summer drifts on

Wound