Disaster
Disaster’s the star
that burns always too brightly
in hope’s firmament
Lost Question
I’m shy of myself
and wander this paradise
like a lost question
Blue Ease
A day slips away
as pelican’s industry
contrasts with my ease
Billion Years
These beaches have sand
to make a billion years pass
through night’s narrow hips
Soldier Crab Armies
Soldier crab armies
are on the move in moonlight –
little do they know
Sting Ray
Sting ray in shallows
a melodious shuffle
this side of flounder
Whispers
So many whispers
snake their ways through the domain
of what I can’t say
My Blue Eye
I’m made to be, cease
in a lost sun’s golden blink,
my blue eye, the sky
Lost Horizon
Horizon is lost,
blue into blue before black,
stars studded above
Vaster
Whimsy is a dream
of exit in a blue maze
vaster than I know
Dawn Breeze
Clouds are boiling up
from the horizon – dawn breeze
ripples purple sea
Orphaned
This is how it is –
when I dream I am no more
my words are orphaned
Rooster Knows
Rooster knows day cracks
always a new way, each pink
and silver new found
Frayed Green Sabers
This banana tree
brandishes all its frayed green
sabers in the wind
Palm Fronds
Palm fronds glisten green
under chalk runes written on
powder sky blue board
Clouds Trekking
Clouds trekking blue sky
are an alphabet before
any alphabet
Suddenly
Suddenly I find
I’m looking back on my life –
a fable, too true
Other
If I could have been
someone other than myself,
who would I have been?
Bows of Cloud
Unstrung bows of cloud
float across powder blue sky –
where’s Odysseus?
The Lost
In transparent blue
of a green day on St. John
I keep losing me
And Tang
Green turtle and tang
light filtering through the sea –
immediacy
Sometimes
Quiet certainty
of my sometimes ownership
of myself has gone
White Cloud Sheep
Indigo ocean,
stir of green in morning breeze
white cloud sheep graze sky
Bird Of Ink
Twin circumflexes
wheel high in blue sky – frigate
is the bird of ink
Horizon Words
There, horizonwards,
I look for horizon words
to join sea, sky, me
Weathered Rock
Weathered rock speaks of
immense force and subtlety
joined over eons
Peacock Flounder
Peacock flounder is
much more delicate than silk,
then becomes a rock
Restless Wind
The wind is restless,
works its way down the coast,
unknown to minnows
Fossil
I found the fossil
of an ancient dream of me –
couldn’t find myself
If I Knew
If I knew what I
was doing here, could I still
grasp sweetness of breeze?
Blue Is Blue
Catalog blue’s shades –
blue is blue, wanders away,
returns to be blue
Little Blue Tang
Little blue tang have
the foreheads of buffalo,
mass in submerged herds
Scent Of Chives
Not even this storm
can erase the scent of chives –
now is their moment
Sixtieth Spring
My sixtieth spring
and I know the score by heart
and yet each note’s new
Amber Ocean
This tea in glass cup
lets me sail amber ocean
and then swallow it
Piety
Golden daffodils
bowing their heads in the storm –
is this piety?
Old Old Friend
Tendons of his hand,
much tighter than they once were –
we shake and he shakes
Bald Eagle
Bald eagle’s white tail
floats effortlessly as bird
traverses gray lake
All These Years
After all these years
of living here with myself
I’m still a stranger
Into My Blue
Into my blue eyes
the eagle flew from blue sky
and is soaring still
White Flag
White petals migrate
on spring wind – can that white flag
cross shivering pond?
Bloodroot
Bloodroot blooms as white
as new snow all though the woods
and it has gold pupils
Death Relishes
Death relishes spring
as much as fall or winter –
it measures each bloom
Why, Eye
Why, eye, does it seem
that the red strawberry dreams
just because it gleams?
Jess M.
Robin’s egg I see
where it was decades ago,
long before you died
Alchemy’s Truth
Each story I tell,
by reason of its telling,
has alchemy’s truth
Curtain
With each shift of breeze,
cherry blossom curtain is
made more delicate
Aftermath
Aftermath, the growth
when hay’s been cut, how the dead
come up in my mind
What I See
What I see surrounds
what I can’t say, inkling in
extremity, this
All Year Long
I wait all year long
for the cherry to explode
into rich pink bloom
Black Limbs
Cherry’s beautiful
even in winter, black limbs
writing on white snow
Inner Emblems
When sun opens them,
red tulips show black rotors –
could they spin and lift?
Poor In Honors
I’m poor in honors,
poor probably in honor
as dandelion
New Lettuce
New lettuce is up
in fresh green dots and dashes
against the brown earth
Cold April Fog
In cold April fog
tulips fold their petals tight,
glow more intensely
Shad Tree
Blooms on the shad tree
merge with fog and so extend
themselves everywhere
What New
Jack in the pulpit
is trying to figure out
what new he can speak
Miniscule
These minuscule lines
try to net matter smaller
still and fresh and free
Blade Of Grass
Time that lets me live
kills me, too – I acquiesce
like a blade of grass
April And
Spring green pitches tents
throughout the woods – I’m inclined
only to idle
Far From Me
I can imagine
pathways leading far from me
I may yet travel
Translate
Twittering of birds
seems to translate the tulips
in a new language
Vast City
Old dead sycamore
is majestic in decay,
founds a vast city
Green River
Hundreds of times, more,
I’ve walked this path that flows
like a green river
Litter
Bright flags of fervor,
tulip petals now litter
the bed where they slept
Surprise
What I’m waiting for
there’s no way to know, for life
like death is surprise
Rachel, 18
You are like a dream,
child glowing green as I gray,
start to flake away
Fits, Starts
My past’s invention,
fabulous ghostly brocade,
woven by fits, starts
Winter Bones
Trees are lacy green
I’m forgetting the bareness
of their winter bones
Joints Predict
I’m of the age now
when my joints predict weather –
how I love sunshine
Back Up
Dogwoods in bloom – snow’s
climbed back up the trees, trying
to regain the sky
Pilfered Lilacs
Pilfered lilacs smell
even sweeter than the ones
that I’ve grown myself
Worry
I keep worrying
although violets have not
a clue why I do
Let Logic Go
I let logic go
I ‘m free to describe what I
see, what’s free of me
Dream It
Each instant’s so full,
so fragile and gone before
I dream it a name
Wild Light
I’m lost in wild light
I’ve known since my infancy,
before words had life
For LG
The solipsist’s muse
is a bubble in trouble –
I speak me, mean you
On Maple Root
Tiger swallowtail
lights on maple root, lapped at
by a cold blue lake
Like Talons
Majestic in flight,
bald eagle threatens with calls
that are like talons
Spring Blizzard
A stand of dogwoods
by the lake’s burly shoulder
makes a spring blizzard
Wild
Suddenly – morel –
in the middle of nowhere
where I am, too – wild
Greedy
Luck makes me greedy
instead of quite satisfied –
why, violet, why?
May 10, 2005
A beautiful day
is coming in the window
beckoning me out
Going On
How the world goes on
going on while in my mind
it’s just as it was
Cobra Lilly
Book, cobra lily,
teak chair, mild May afternoon –
who knows what I am?
Unseen Birds
A sleeping white dog,
pink peonies in a vase,
speech of unseen birds
Prayer Flags
The wind has eaten
two Buddhist prayer flags that
once were red and blue
Imperceptibly
Imperceptibly
afternoon ebbs into night,
as sky finds star eyes
Restless Art
This wind’s restless art
combs through the trees and through me,
never satisfied
Temporary
The sad certainty
is I’m temporary like
butterfly and bee
Red Winged Blackbird
Red winged blackbird flies
straight at me, torpedo with
scarlet epaulettes
Soft Whispers
Days seem infinite
until I hear soft whispers
of my end in me
Woman In Woods
Cell phone, cigarette,
Starbucks coffee – I saw this
woman of the wood
Spooked
Awkward and graceful
all at once, spooked blue heron
lifts off from the marsh
Carpenter in Tree
Wood chips are flying –
pileated woodpecker,
carpenter in tree
Pink Cherry Blossoms
Pink cherry blossoms
have now come and gone – did I
see them or dream them?
Immobile
In muddy river
a great blue heron, ancient,
immobile at dawn