When I can no longer discern the path
when I am seeking a seer's looking glass
I walk miles of desert alone, travel years from home
to stand hot or cold, in a wilderness, fragile or strong
in storms, sun sweltered and windblown.
I believe in fire, the burning into ashes reborn
look for defining lines, watch for the telling signs
I listen for the music of words, spoken softly sweet
for love notes, tucked in heart, to keep.

White fleshed the wild roots
cold in caves of soil the bulbs, the tubers
burst through aged brown clay, wet through mud slick rains
sun drunk buds of tulip leaves, petals painted pink
bird chirp and groan of ponds, a soft bedded mossy home
of woven fern and forest fronds, home to night's invisible frogs
white moon dogwood blooms, calls heard lovelorn
through an open window.

In spring, green along the river
amid ancestral foothills, we walk deer trails
wild in the woods of scented pine
of silver sycamores, silken barked
stark, they pale against bluest skies
their new leaves green and glistening
we are listening for songbirds, for a language without words
transfixed, through this portal, reborn in this world
warm winds speak sweet and susurrus of spring
melodious they sing, leaving far behind
the cold, the dead of winter.

For you the woods, the moon
night paths, I breathe the air attuned
treading starlit, I sleep and dream
ever closer my love to you
bright from the sky like stars
ever into your arms I fall
and fall.

Watching the budding vine of petals unfurl
all through winter I am looking for spring
the daffodil yellow greens, the lilac blossoming
of tiny star flower florets, sweet the songbird chorus
moss softly sunning, the trickle of forest creeks running
the remembrance and fragrance, the pungent warmth of rain
drops, wet and round, bounced from trees, upon my face falling down
cool splash, the startling of my eyelash
wet washing and alive, the resurrection, the cycle
of all things again reborn.

In the water, some tears erased
below the surface, they slip away
only a watery grave of what used to be
a mirage, a vision of possibility
a looking glass, this moon-green sea.

Verily we are suspended
to one another invisibly threaded
gold spun, finely woven
we breathe the air of summer
silken petaled, softly subtle
through these woods treading sun dappled
we come to rest, in a rosy heaven
lose the world of whirling much too fast
to gain the moment, lose the future and the past.

December's child
with fire you were forged
your eyes are liquid amber poured
always I dream to kiss
your perfect lips divinely cast
the sweetness of your breath
the warmth that moves across my flesh
your hands and arms are sculpted bronze museum art
indelibly in mind when you are far
the hot of your delicious mouth
traveling gently, slowly south.

In this desert
I touch the ocean within,
here where I abandon all plans,
I spend hours watching cloud formations
of flowers blooming violet, red.
I travel to the sanctuary of the soul
each morning, sit silent
at the altar of dawn.

gentle water ripples
snow of falling flower petals
soft the landing of your lips
we merge like clouds in dream
become one, learn to breathe in sync

I stay awake with stars, thinking of your eyes
amber fields, flecked with golden moons
your lips, red cast by secret coral worlds
swim, my hands you catch in woven nets
roped hair of salt and seaweed curls
hold my breath, catch and save myself
nightly, in the deep end, just before I drown.

I am looking at maps, constellations and planets
plotting routes to drive, to hike this country
seems I would stagnate and die
were I to stay put all of the time
my eyes scale topographies
like braille, my fingers feel
the green of flowering fields
the rain running down hills
always I dream of skies
I envy birds flying over
in cities, I don't seem to settle
pace this floor, a caged animal
daydream of wilderness walks,
spending nights watching stars fall
the heavenly peace of it all.

I cannot lose the images, though I try
still the memories of Dragoon imbue my mind
evenings beneath agave moons, full bloomed
the silhouetted century plant flowers
the day's last light, the final sun shadows
our night hikes under Venus skies
signaled the fall, the bright blinking call
of night sweeping stars, and too the flashing,
the sparkling gold of our two souls
unearthed amid the giant stones
ancient, sacred through the ages
in the moments of truth
when love finds a home.

On days like this
cool, with little winds
desert birds forage for sticks
they build nests perched in cactus
some build green in palo verde trees
always I think of baby birds in spring
hatchlings, the fledglings that fly
I travel far beyond the noise of towns
watch the movement of cooling clouds
the roundness of rain upon the ground
the grey banked scurrilous skies
of hurried birds, their silhouettes before a storm
daisies that close, cold amid the stones
beneath where snakes and lizards go
slither and crawl in this landscape of saguaros
and I, ever tethered can only dream to fly.

love me
elemental as
wind, water, fire
wild in billowing fields
drenched watery wet in sweat
of all other things make me forget
igniting dreams of lightening steam
all the ordinary world evaporating

In the morning red hibiscus flowers
yesterday's petals have fallen to the ground
a hummingbird briefly hovers
in flashes, green iridescent feathered
soon the silver sun comes from behind clouds
reflections, in spectrum colors
of painted sky, brush strokes
in watercolors of dawn
the heart, a lotus flower
center of the soul
that opens.

Ocean swimming, buoyant blue
salt encrusted hair of jewels
seaweed shimmering, waves entangling
savoring, deep her belly breath of sea
with a mermaid tail, to flash in hues of green
wearing rings and pearls, she swirls in a sea of stars
radiantly, far below the moon.

You are a traveler of the South lands
brown, a leathered skin coyote
desert walker of the Sonoran sands
crafty, black magic witch
a shaman, lucid dreamer
Yaqui Indian spell weaver
of visions, of paintings in the sand
mixing colors, peyote flowers
red, the melting of the aloe bowers
dark blood, the blooming agave towers
thick with snakes, the fire and hiss
that burns black of sacaton grass
the quiver and flash of flying sparks
igniting night, time traveling to the stars.

Your heart - all knowing, that finds me
blooming, a lotus flower unfurling
sepals and petals, morning yellow
of golden birds, gilded meadows
of grasses green, your wisdom eyes
of flashing fields that shine
we are infinitely interwoven by
the sacred that is unspoken
by all that is divine.

Ashen grey, weathered wood
splintered, white bone
hollowed by the desert sun
skull and backbones
laid to rest, wind blown
sunk in sifting sands, exposed
by wet washing squalls
drinking water into steam
interwoven, dead with weeds
iridescent beetles and scorpions
glints of pyrite, diamond stones
the haunting wind, that moans
wild through hollows and holes.

This tea, I steep
red apple, your kiss
alizarin crimson, wet
impossibly sweet
you soothe, I drink
your lingering lips
poured with honey milk
by the fire, consumed
of love infused
with herbs and leaves
this tea, I drink.

We are of the ocean
salt water green, lime and seaweed
clinging and threaded, verily suspended
in the far off edges, ebbing unseen
steeped in luminous moons, impossibly colored
a darkness, plumbing ageless depths of sea
strung with opulent pearls, swallowed by fields of sand
a light discovered in the shoal shimmering lands.

Only a desert of blowing dust
a junk yard of weathered metal rust
the brutal blare of scorching sun
the cold of winter's raining snow
an ever changing, tricky season
a killing storm without reason
only a metaphor to explore
the hot and cold - of you
that I deplore.

First the soft biting
lips and all the rest
your hands, this landscape
a smooth curved road
of breath hot summer, the swelter
this endless sky, an ocean to discover
salt water of my lover

The air here is slow, it breathes like steam
a fog bank hovers, settles within
time does not tick ahead
I stare at minute hands
this room is silent snow
a cold colored blue
and drifts through broken windows
a fragmented dream
of you.

Blue flowered in the warm sun of winter
pungent fragrance wafts splendorous
smallish leaves, grow deeply green
with a sun-ward slant they lean
hum and sing with bees
reaching ever upward
wild, their fingers untamed
vigorous, they flourish
lushly in the lane
our hands grow green stained
here in a dream field
handfuls of rosemary
we steal

Vast, this snowy land
still and deep the quiet country
cold the cloudy fog we breathe
gasping winds that rise and break the silence
along a fence line, slowly disappearing
how small the trees and distant hills that fade like smoke
and loom the clouds like ghosts, blooming madly white - the sky
if in winter we should meet deep along some snowy height
gazing as the grey and whites fade swiftly into night
some evening silently await the moon, void of words to speak
with great Peace - to breathe beneath the great north star that shines

Cool cloud shrouded air, here where I find myself
surrounded by giants, legends, these mountains
I am miniscule as one grain of sand
the people here are giant, green saguaros
holey, with birds that live within
they are fit with wild reaching arms
guardians of the desert land
anchored, deeply grounded
in this whirling vortex
unhurriedly they grow
blooming yellow flowered
with petals that pale and fall
they are true friends
that I have come
to know

The rain it pooled deep within the leaf, the hollow
and drank there - insect, vole and swallow
along a mud and marshy path, my feet for to follow
and tread upon the lichen moss, I sank softly greening
watching all the day, the trickling of the woodland trees
the light that breathed there glistening.

Swift, the rain in colors grey
black the daylight whisked away
by steely skies, charcoal smudged
the ashen clouds amid blowing winds
surreal this field, this pelted land
the scream of hurried birds, that scatter

To end this, is to run blindly - falling
loose limbs wild and flailing
with hands that can no longer grasp
a saving grace, a final branch
we are lost in desolation
it is pure wilderness
a long winter's night
with no path or tracks
to follow, cold like snow
we plow this landscape, barren
deep and dark below
to seep into the soul
lingering long in limbo
the ache of holding on
transformed into
the pain of
letting go

How I loved your mouth
the way your words belled forth
rang in soothing song
your lips and all the rest
days of coming home
in meadows or prairie suns
by love's fiery field
how we were
consumed

Winter's amber fire
the ashen woods we burned
wet smoulder of mire
the water and the fire.
Dark ancestral home
nights moon shivering cold
stars fixed or falling
beyond the skies fiery yields
only dying embers
lost in oblivion's field.

Love silent falls
lofty floats, touches invisibly soft
unseen through the scope of eyes
comes brushing by or comes in a down pouring
wet washing the soul, unwavering, wordless it unfolds
travels most rugged terrain, then smooths the way
there is no season for its efflorescence
it sits a silent bud any moment to flower
always we've known it's fragrance
it is the way, the path
a flitting ethereal flower
deeply felt, though in hand
never grasped.

Sonoran desert
sacred, hot breathed
scorch of footsteps, blood red sands
sun bleached bones and skulls
this wash a hallowed holy ghost
an unnerving place of hiss and fire
molten sun to dry the water
a drowning fever of prickly sweat
last night the Yaqui man you met
undulating in a purification ceremony
lashing energy cords cut
he is laughing like coyote, wild eyed
green the velvet desert peyote
awakened you have come to understand
a universe within a fleck of sand.

Nightfall, dark with planets
cold desolate sky home
stars amid nebulous winds swirling
cool icing, caked in frozen states
cynosure of volatile fates
the fiery red that melts blue
tonight a slow float of milk clouds
a diaphanous transient veil
drifts its way across
the moon so pale.

I tried water
wading, floating, drowning
the pooling and spilling of years
immersed myself holy
deeply to find the fear
dark in the deep end
the coming home to soul
the pain of it all
unknowingly I'd slept
heart wrecked
frozen in fear
unwilling to look
until there was
no other choice
until one day discovering
hidden truths beyond
my darkest void.

Never call me, on nights fierce with storm
blowing wild with lightening, thunder
no never, and though fretful, I tremble
through raging rains
I go alone

Please don't come over
leaving little notes, so clever
hot and cold, was our weather
farewell my lover
alas it is finally over

I am surrounded by night, windless
hot as fever, even more troubled
the places I've called home, abandoned
along with everyone, days in a desert alone
I speak to no one, only the sky
the night moon, my mother
whispers in metaphor
something brilliant
I tremble, quiver
in time with
the stars.

Lonesome
this dying fire
the darkening sky
now barely a glint of sun
a dismal line of light
it swiftly fades into the night
starless black water
this mirror pool
reflections of
you and I.

Cerulean blue, the mad rippling
how I crave water, sometimes even green
in spring the melting of me
smooth ****** skipping
blue pools swimming
to feel an ocean inside
the storm clouds collide
unhinged from fire's dream
a torrent, a waterfall
of holy water
evaporating into
steam.

Storm clouds
of black thunder
electrical magnetic powered
sparks lashing loose wired
consumed by lightning fire
a wild red blazing blue
hot smouldering coals of you
the final burning through
a certain kind of death
grey the ashes
of our truth.

When I dream this desert turns green, blooms
clouds race where mountain lions loom
ash gray, the cool of blue rain comes
a redolent wind of desert sea
rushing waves, sand blown
sculpted saguaro forests
pale flowered yellow
drinking every drop
now this eve we drink
now before another dawn
of the mad thirsty sun

My lips are cracked leather
lizard dry, my breath melts into mirage
beetles emerge from dark caves
in flashes of iridescence, crawling
their tiny tracks, surreal sand paintings
art for cactus wren, hunting

Here, beyond yet another
sparkling diamond mound
lies a wild sea of the sailing ships, I've found

Gathering colors of day
sea of green viridian, washing storms of grey
seagulls cry in shades colored blue
how mad the ocean's raving tune
it sweeps away the end of day
to paint the sky of blackness
a pale moon fades
beyond the sway
of silvery shades
night shimmers its way
into red and blue
where fiery clouds ignite
the day once more anew.

When I travel far from crowds
find myself grey, in the raining clouds
I run far into the cedar woods
of green and mossy loam
with birds, I fly from storms
deep in a world
sweet with maidenhair ferns
soft the moss, to touch
as newborn rabbit's fur
many the hour
under sparkling trees
of yellow maples glistening
the chirping words, of smallest birds
that I can never see
echo sweet, I dream and sleep
sink into perfect peace
beneath the rainforest canopy

Summer flowers, all the tiny petals
are colored stars falling to the river
floating in a watery heaven
sailing far beyond this day
into nothingness
into everything seen
like blood red petals
that mingle with
autumn's moon

A thirsty desert dweller
my lips parched and cracked
from lack of rain
I wait for hours
days for love
to reign

I went home, it was a long dry stretch of road
walking backwards toward the sun
the red heat dripped and pooled
rested in spaces of backbone
a white hot desert, sand blown
I went searching
beyond denial - to feel
I found lost parts of me
beyond the parch
and peel.

Walking the dirt path, down around
the gold brown hills that spill into the orchard
apples baked in the oven, sun of summer
and in September they are done
red, we dressed with honey cinnamon
the air was bliss, the trees, the ancient harvest
with baskets full, the way our hearts overflowed
this was a place we called heaven, but now you are in the trees
in the sweeping fields of turquoise seas, in the stars that never cease
here, where you once imagined and could only dream to remain as ever