It is all flowing uphill
back into the tributaries
into the headwaters

Life returns to its source
at the end
Chinook salmon spawn in their natal streams and die
their bodies nourish their young
who make haste to salt water
then return from the sea
to repay the favor

Uphill it is for us
a long slog, it seems

We are dedicated enemies
of entropy
unconscious
yet knowing our duty

So these are your instructions.

You must wake each day
and know it as a gift
never pause in worship
never cease your upstream struggles
until it is time
for such foolishness to end.

Grit and muscle
heart and will
life is short
yet sweeter still.

i love you with
all of my darkness
and all of my light
like a midnight flower
blossoming,

hinged like a door
i battle to reach you

i know only of our love,
i'm a blue mood and
a strange sea, weeping
in winter's silver frost,

your fiery legs
leave me longing
like a jealous cloud
longs to dream of
the night and hold
it as its own,

i'm crazy about your
legs, crazy, crazy,
crazy about your love,

and i melt as you kiss me
crazy jealous of your love.

"where love is.... a jealous girl
of the wind."

i.

falling like a leaf
that sings to the sky
the cresting wave
draws down,
the honey sea
a miracle of dance.

ii.

deep vision of blue,
caves of grey iron,
the waters pool,
drifting with the
icy wind.  

iii.

sharp vowel of
frozen earth,
the songful
depths of winter
sink like the seas,
the dark notes
of the clouds an
accent above the
vaulting hills.

iv.

i sink like the seas
before your love,
my knees trembling,
my legs aroused,

i am a storm that
gathers the
horizons of your
sky, burnt into the
honeycombs of
the wind full of
winter
song.

v.

the sky must sigh,
the wind whisper
to the sea; “take
me home.”

vi.

i see you and my
body melts, your
love the breath of
the sea, the magical
tides of the clouds.

a grey sky,
my lips pressed
to your lips,
unfastened hair,

in a moment
i am drawn
to you,
in love with
your legs and
your smile,

grey dissidence
of the approaching
storm,
thunder caught
up in the hills,

the roses start
to wilt in the vase,

the roses of the sky
have silent wings,
time knotted
like a handkerchief
against my skin,

i am hollow, my
legs desiring yours,
love the swift sea,
the amber forest,

blowsy silk,
the clouds,
drawn of water,

and i sink
jealous of your love
and your legs,

wanting all of
you to fall in
love with me,

lips pressed
together,
love, my love,
the ghosts
of the storm.

Two poems got away last night when I was dozing
bolted out the door
before I knew it
laughing like fools
Stole my last two beers
and they were gone

“Ya see, officer,
They didn't have their names yet
so they don't know themselves at all
or to answer if I call
They misbehaved and
Never learned there's rules out there
I'm a lousy poet parent, yeah,
I know
I shoulda been tougher on 'em
Half their words 'er scattered
twisted, misspelled, unreadable, inept
with rhythms all askew 'n weighted wrong

They will surely fall over their own lines
and into big ****-trouble
***** little scribbles!
sorta clumsy like their mother"

Meanwhile, the grammar cop is thinking,
“They do not pay me enough for this!
I'm looking for children of the village idiot and a *****”

"...Across the yard and down the alley
They must've run
Hopin' they didn't figure out the stick
on the Toyota

I'll never see 'em again
Pretty sure they got my keys"

The cop is nodding, bored, polite
but I notice
He's written all this down