Outburst

like mud flung 
from pools formed
with flood's flash 

she's hurled 

against you 

things pass

like bentonite

she draws in

her apologetic
ritual evidenced

a caked splatter stain
on your ruined trousers

Nocturnal

my heart plunges ahead into hours that will be, uncertain of its place

moving through rooms

made foreign

devoid of light

time and place

rush within the walls of me

as rapid as this pulse

autonomous, wild above the trees the waning moon glows faintly

she's also the introvert

pulling at the deepest crevices

of Vishuddha and Anahata

from the woods

coyotes howl and bark

as if I woke them

Poppies

poppies
nod to
brave
morning

tangerine
crepe unfurls
tissue-paper thin, 
trusting light

exposed
their inner
selves sway

ecstatic
beneath 
warm 
brilliance 

Levitating

your hands float above me;
magician with velvet cloth

your intentions strings

that levitate me

with a polar force

suspended, not bound, 

i hang with bliss

senseless to all 

save the sensation 

of heavy floating want

You are Beloved

you are beloved

admired from 

a distance and

closer than you know 

to some one 

you are the 

laughter of bliss

lit from heart center 

a dream, remembered

your lover wears 

another face 

all's been said, 

translated on 

on raised fibers 

of braille letters

caressed on 

leathered paper

you are 

some one's 

familiar

love 

Paperwhite You

Forced to push 

through tangled

tender roots. 

How hard 

your bloom 

in winter's 

bleakness.

Your fair skin 

luminescent beneath

December's wise moon.

She knows death,

and all we lose. 

You share secrets.

She whispers to you 

on the longest night.

Your blood courses, 

aligned with her

inevitable trip.

Behind sad eyes,

I see rebirth with 

each month's pass.

You cannot love sun

without her sister, 

but they will 

never force you. 

You'll grow more 

beautiful as all

of you blooms.

Hallelujah

I am a glorious
round sweet pea

on your tongue
you roll me

savor, taste
the meat of me

honor the succulent
earth in me 

see me for
the pea I be 

To the One Who Wasn't

within, there

nesting in the 

shallot shaped 

bulb of beginning 

you joined me

created in 

violence, 

I denied you

 

your soul
had a better 

place to begin 

no safety, 

no way to be 

all that you should 

this lineage

of trauma 

mine to stop 

and what
I'd never 

give you 

As Memory Would Have It

was 

she 

ever 

sweet

tongued

soul full

beloved 

her shy 

secret 

lids 

kissed 

words 

inadequate 

for the 

sighted 

lines of 

herness  

somatic 

cues

echoes

like necklaces 

tangled 

Fly Casting

the current seam

words that lure  

the strongest swimmer 
couldn't fight it

a perfected delivery 
nets so many 

of all those 
caught and released

I recognize the cast, still

For Now

she saves 

words 

her weakness

for impermanence

tenuous 

fragile as 

morning webs 

Rope

some 

days

throat 

constricts 

tied to 

the vile 

burden 

of cell 

memory 

masses 

circle jerk 

to a fallacy 

a spiritual 

non-crisis 

her life - 

irrelevant

the few 

empathize

their 

compassion 

eats rope 

like fire 

Paying Attention

My mother asks questions 

she doesn't want answers for 

are you still writing 

what are they doing 

when did that happen 

I finally learned, having spent
a lifetime listening to them

it's not recent behavior 

Her questions a prompt 

for me to ask about her 

Her short, sad answers 

laden with the pull of 

a boat, untethered

rope wrapped 

around my ankles, 

pulling me from shore 

I've learned to stand 

higher up the shore, 

away from the 

last tide's debris 

strewn in the 

damp sand 

between us