In the evening, by the sea
subtle ripples, bright as liquid silver, flash
an ocean of color, to drink away the sun  
a line of light fades into skies of night
from the call of deepest dark
a birth of luminous stars
such blue, white fires, only burn
no cares, no seasons do they discern
they have come and gone, without our knowing
they will never sleep, only change in cosmic storms
burning away in the vastness
of other forms

a garden fence of wooden slats
giant poppies bloom and fill the gaps
brightest petals, orange

white birds of summer  
will mend, with twine and twig
windy nests of a northern winter

today, only an indigo sea
of lavender bees, will hum
like gold, beneath the sun

no frowning clouds will come
only morning glory flowers will bloom
blue as sky, blue as heaven

Watching long shadows
some slipping under fences
tricky summer suns
like to play me dumb
or glare me, half blind
sometimes I run
or sometimes walking backwards
looking where I've been
in the heat of day
only a dream to sway
under the cool
of moons

In Klawock stands seven totems
and a madman, chanting under ebon skies
he is embedded in the cedar wood, he is connecting worlds
a master carver, of language without words
of the raven clan, he is tracing ancestry in the wood
seeking the old ways of eagle, wolf and bear
born of water, amid the realms of earth and air
his spirit runs with salmon.

Crushing you've come, traipsing through
my fruits and flowers, to stalk after dark, my heart
disguised in scented garlands, your secret blood and art
do you think me cruel, maybe a fool, or maybe
just a lover of summer white moons
with stars and tricks and the air too hot
my mind is asunder, I've fallen under
hypnotic spells you weave
and now it's really
far too late
to leave

red
it is the clay of hills
cathedral clouds of sunsets burning
the weeping that calls you home
it is the fire within

gray
it is the ashes
blowing from your hands
the sands slipping, back to earth
a soul sifting, a balanced scale
awaiting your rebirth

In the night garden, star flowers linger
long before dawn, before the sun
vines climb, with ivory flowers hung
bringing light, where the moon glows pale
flowered jasmine is sweet beneath the air of fire
with lanterns lit in floral scents
glowing through diaphanous petals
here, where the earth shines like heaven
and blooms not unlike the stars.