Stupor
Stupor in the west,
chill fog in San Francisco,
inside and outside
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco bay
as blue as ever, blue as
I remember me
Market
Unimaginable
this mushroom here before me
lemon lion’s mane
Tumbling
I tumble in dream
like clothes in washing machine,
wake wet with wonder
Goldfinch
The goldfinch that flies
is not the same bird that lights
on my mind’s thistle..
Dark Line
Distant pelicans,
dark line on sea sullen blue –
I’m part of them, too
Ink Against Cloud
Pelicans are first
calligraphy on the bay,
then ink against cloud
Drake’s Beach
My bare foot touches
at Drake’s beach Pacific fringe –
cold is sudden, sweet
Sweet Peas
Sweet peas blooming pink
in salt flecked breeze – how little
it takes to find joy
Cliffs
In cliffs of Drake’s beach
I see myriad faces,
sand, rust, maybe me
Old Drake
I’m like old Drake, too
I touch and then must let go,
sail my own ocean
Taste Of Ocean
A taste of ocean
lets me be less and be free
as spray in the wind
Two Cormorants
Two cormorants dive
in unison, kin of ink
hunting in the murk
Voice Of Nothing
I’m voice of nothing –
miraculous – it forms sounds –
returns to silence
Lady Bug
One lady bug, orange,
in pocked well-traveled driftwood –
when did she hop on?
Liz
Ninety-four years old
dwindling she’s a sparrow
who hops off, takes flight
Clover
White clover is back,
the snows of yesteryear, here,
sweetened for summer
Hot And Humid
It’s hot and humid,
weather magnolia’s loved
since the beginning
Leisure
How much is leisure
the opposite of work, how
much work all its own?
Noose
Summer’s in full swing,
long shortening days, the noose
around its neck, loose
Embargo
An embargo stills
my tongue – what’s so precious, moon.
that I can’t say it?.
Bloom On Bloom
Milkweed’s sweet rotten
smell draws swallowtails to light,
bloom on dusky blooms
Like A Sun
One orange nasturtium
a fierce sun in the fragrant
purple lavender
White Snapdragons
Dragons with cloud jaws
fastened to green stems, tranquil
as twilight deepens
Thick Scent
Thick scent of milkweed
just before the thunderstorm –
bees stay hard at work
Inaccurate Slant
Inaccurate slant
of my small mind on all things –
every clown’s a king
To Be Lost
Each day is a maze,
mind is the seeker of threads,
the thing to be lost
Monarch
Monarch flew an orange
stuttering helix up through
apple tree to blue
Kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope, me,
yesterdays, tomorrows, now,
one stained teeming glass
Moon Alone
The lightning bugs have
done their work, leaving the moon
alone with the dark
Evaristo Medina
The gourd fish that’s signed
“Evaristo Medina”
swims decades with me
2006
I’m making my way
through another year even
as my way makes me
Never Before
Morning breeze in oaks –
I’ve watched this a thousand times
and never before
Looking For Words
I’m looking for words,
phantom flashing fireflies
in my mind’s evening
Becoming Rose
Oak leaf hydrangea
has blushed a becoming rose
on pale green petals
Old Sorrow
On a sweet morning
an old sorrow’s present new
and I’m helpless still
Green Momentum
Summer glides its course
charged with vast green momentum,
no way to look back
Awkward
Mastery’s awkward,
as is mystery, secret
the young can not know
Twilight Bird Calls
Bird calls at twilight,
a summery summary
of what can’t be known
Sticky Weather
In sticky weather,
stargazer lilies perfume
the entire garden
Huge Gold
Under the rumble
of afternoon thunder –
huge gold sunflowers
Summerscent
Summerscent of rot
comes faintly up off the land –
white clover’s still sweet
Aging Mind
In my aging mind –
yesterday and tomorrow –
hopefully confused
Becalmed
I’m irrelevant,
becalmed in being’s shallows –
or are these the deeps?
Just Waking Up
Tomorrow’s a dream
and so, too, is yesterday –
I’m just waking up
Mushroom
Mushroom’s a missile
launched from underground that can’t
quite break free of earth
Walking Junkyard
Don’t know what’s in me
let alone how it got there –
I’m walking junkyard
Lebanon, 2006
Murder never helps
drive the terror farther off,
but makes it a home
Somewhere
Jagged canyon walls
intrude between the seconds –
somewhere a river
Leaving Part
Death is the drama
whose leading part, leaving part
each one comes to play
Wasp
Wasp in blooming thyme,
black and full of menace as
a helicopter
Peaceheads
Tall stargazer stem
is a lance carrying pink
fierce fragrant peaceheads
Equator
A beige Port Clyde rock
with eggshell white equator –
a world in my hand
Hat
My daughter brought me
a hat from Australia –
she’s gone beyond me
Bare Feet
My bare feet find smiles
in the moist cool morning grass –
how can I resist?
Dead Mouse
Dead mouse in the grass
and gray cat matter-of-fact
asleep in the shade
Delicate
Something delicate
is the source of all my strength,
something less than me
Collage
I snip surroundings
to hazard guesses of what
might be inside me
Beside The Point
I’m beside the point –
I can’t reach out and touch it –
it’s shy as I am
Pack
The white dog and I
find on the floor the comfort
of the pack we lack
Or What?
I’ve nothing to say,
yet I hunger to be heard –
irony or what?
Almost Cool
Evening’s almost cool
as the day’s fierce heat retreats –
mind changes its clothes
Fine Fierce
Heat brings cicadas
up to a fine fierce frenzy
which calms, collects me
Terraced Garden
A terraced garden,
many years in the making
like a single glance
Old Screen Porch
The old screen porch holds
white dog and me as the rain
pours out of white sky
Sieve And Sand
I’m the one I was,
also the ones I wasn’t –
I’m sieve and sand both
Placid Rabbit
Placid brown rabbit
munches clover the color
of his cottontail
Fox’s Bark
Fox’s distressed bark,
bright beyond the reach of brass,
flame leaping from dark
Travel
I travel remaining
still within myself, watching
myself come and go
Samoyed
Samoyed, white dog,
Shira, song and poetry,
four paws on my trail
Orange
Summer’s first monarch –
once there were thousands and more –
orange in morning breeze
Pale Fingers
Morning’s pale fingers
fondle the moist of meadows
pat the grazing deer
In The Drizzle
The fireflies flicker
eagerly in the drizzle
after twilight storm
Mint’s Delirium
Mint’s delirium
floats on the staggering heat –
gray cat sleeps in it
Dream River
Beside dream river
Dad and I hiked so many
green and speechless miles
No Secrets
Happiness – a guest
who comes unannounced and claims
to have no secrets
Frustrated
Mosquitoes surround
the gray cat – they’re frustrated
by her thick smooth fur
Pine Nuts
Pine nuts come from pines,
but everywhere is pining
that’s the fruit of love
Living Frontier
I’m living frontier,
an edgy intermingling
of what’s found and flight
Qana, July 2006
I’m diving the past
to grasp the present wreckage –
all the dead children
Turn Away
I would turn away,
but what I flee follows me –
I’m in Lebanon
Noon Heat
Deep purple basil
is soaking up summer sun –
noon heat is intense
Twin Beauties
The beauty of peace
and the beauty of combat
are always at war
Sixty Years In Peace
Sixty years in peace
I have lived now and struggled –
immense good fortune
Baton
What is this sorrow,
but the conductor’s baton
marking time’s music?
Bull’s Eyes
Bull’s eyes scattered through
these green woods – tiny spiders
fish soft summer air
No Remorse
I feel no remorse
when I crash a spider’s web –
expect none from quake
Still Brown Rabbit
Cabbage butterfly
buzzes the still brown rabbit
in the white clover
Immense Slaughter
The immense slaughter
that is the wealth of nature –
why should I escape?
Lost Books
Yellow swallowtails
ripped from lost books of the sun
flit afternoon dreams
Just The Same
Sixty years old now
and just the same as I was
in my second year
Without A Map
I keep slipping away –
where I go I just don’t know –
man without a map
Mouse Guts
Gray cat left mouse guts
on the porch – I think of war
in lands close and far
What Tailor
What tailor cuts hope
to make it suit what can be –
how does he measure?
Late Summer’s Whimsy
Late summer’s whimsy –
fertility’s foolishness –
tomatoes on the ground
Morning And
Sunday morning and
quiet and the lift of light
up through breeze stirred oaks
Forests Of Feeling
I wander forests
of feeling, try to ask fox
what he knows for sure
Almost Home
My life’s an exile
in country that’s almost home,
borders never still
Words Change
Words change as I speak
so I don’t know what I’ve said,
what I meant to say
Tiny Packets
Fabulous tangle
of cerebrum where light lives
in tiny packets
Wild Grapes
Wild blue-purple grapes
are almost all skin and seed,
a long way from wine
Gout
My right ankle aches –
the years have given me gout –
I still love to walk
Bright Red Seeds
Jack in the Pulpit
is loaded with bright red seeds,
trying to make more
Goldfinch And
Up into the green –
goldfinch and two cardinals –
color in the breeze
Still Riding
Along that dead log,
new crop of Dryads’ saddles –
so they’re still riding
Can It Be
What’s most obvious
most intrigues me – can it be
that I really am?
Soap Bubble
I keep throwing spears
at the soap bubble of self
but it never bursts
August Tomatoes
August tomatoes
each big as an asteroid
each bite red delight
Don’t Ask
Is there more to love
than hope and need conspiring?
Don’t ask an old man…
Prison Prism
Everywhere I’ve been,
I’ve been only in myself –
my prison prism
Green Chestnut
Single green chestnut
spiny as a sea urchin
hides a brown planet
A Story
I am a story
blended of, descended from
millions of stories
Settled Middle
My hopes deceive me,
as do my despairs – how rare
the settled middle
Sandcastles
Building sandcastles
by this sea – tides carry off
hope and memory
Like Phosphorus
Wild white clematis
burns like phosphorus in rain
that just won’t let up
Bushel
Despair’s the bushel
whose dark conceals the tiny
intense light of hope
One Week
One week of rain now
and it feels like forever
just as the drought did
Broken And Whole
My heart is broken
and whole as I watch the rain,
think of those I’ve lost
Mist I’m Made Of
Into emptiness
I keep looking – where did mist
I’m made of begin?