unrequited light flows from lonely stars
as they reach into the dark unknown
not seeing their own beautiful auras
not knowing the lives touched
by the warmth of their one-sided glow

a land rising from the heart of the earth
imposing itself upon crystalline skies
a history written in the creator's hand
of generations sealed by nature’s guise

i promise you this
that i will do my best
to see you as you are
right here, right now

your past does not define you
you are a shining being
and you deserve my love
no matter who
you think
you are

the shadows of the fall
they echo down the hall
like jagged little reminders
of a world we kept in blinders

when the one of all is shattered
his head upon a platter
the river stops to rest
in an ocean of ******

and the moon flies wantonly
embarrassed of the bo tree
and the scrolls fall to the floor
in a burning down bookstore

the silken thread that binds me
to the voice of the muse
vibrates with her subtle speech
in a way i can’t refuse

stitching heart and mind
though tenuous and fine
the beauty of this filament
is illumined and divine

and though i’ll never claim it
i will seek it all my days
until at last i’m laid to rest
no more to leave her gaze

to leave fear behind
like a nightmare
broken by dawn

to live freely
like an unbridled horse
galloping across the plains

to love life
like the sun loves the earth
and the earth loves the moon

to sing and dance
like the wind sings in the trees
and the trees dance in the wind

to see beauty
in every created thing

she reaches my heart
as she sings her song of light
restoring night-withered spirits
with dawn’s melodious sight

silence creates music
darkness creates light
the good makes the bad
and wrong allows for right

without up there is no down
if we don't die we aren’t alive
a breath in is a breath out
and in departing we will arrive

her wings glinting shades of autumn
as low-angle sunlight fills the ash tree
and embraces all below in golden light

she glides around me twice and falls
scarred yellow swallowtail wings lie still
the cloud-veiled sun mourns a fallen daughter

i knelt to see dull eyes and a worn body
life-scared wings told combat tales
a life well-lived on any scale

deep within her soul
behind a keyless door
sleeps a dancer who flows freely
with the staccato rhythms of life
and that with her fluid motions
creates a shining world of love

but now the goddess sleeps peacefully
hibernating in enchanted lullabies
while shes lays dormant deep within
until her chamber door is opened
and she bursts into radiant life
finally escaping her prison of fear

cross the river deep and wide
the gulf of our divide

strain against the current
or ride the raging torrent

stand on this shore with me
together we'll be free

moving mountains to the ocean
like the channel's flowing motion

cross the river deep and wide
the gulf of our divide

we have forgotten
how small we really are
even though the simple sky
full of bright yet distant stars
would remind us every night
if we would just turn off the lights

we have forgotten
our true place on the earth
as the responsible care-takers
we weren't cast out of the garden
we left by our own free will and choice
neglecting important dependants
in our search for a better life

he expertly constructs
intricate structures and framework
laying the foundations on clouds
(the murky clouds of "what if")
he builds story upon story
erecting a crystal fortress
topping the tallest spires with mirrors
so the whole world will see
how completely right he is

as he steps back to admire his work
he notices the smallest of cracks
in the keystone above the golden arch
that branches as it advances
ripping through the glass castle
which crackles from threshold to roof
in an inherent and utter collapse
that leaves a glimmering shattered heap
of imagined debris at his nauseated feet

it came as a nervous relief
when it finally cracked
but when it fell
a certain weight
fell off his shoulders
releasing his long-suppressed wings
and now he glides into every sunset
and dives into every sunrise
immersed in celestial-glowing colors
being baptized in the skies
his shining life set ablaze

my heart trembles
lying in the dust

wings broken
by the glass
of the windows
to your soul

your mysterious eyes
entice me so

the muted colors of the in-between world
that is november in my yellowstone home
feebly blanket the terrain in dull tones

new spires being born as cliff faces yield
blasted by gusts of super-volcanic sand
in winds that coat even the river in dust

four napping bison seem comfortably huge
their massive bodies mimic the mountains
revealing how this is truly their home

a bald eagle surveys from a split-rail fence
her mate above circling the trout-filled river
their intertwined lives proving love's depth

you are my moonlight
mysterious and alluring
through all of your phases

you are my melody
entrancing and unique
music woven into your rhythms

your beauty is fluid
an ever-changing constant
and ocean-deep elegance

her heart's lonely call
achingly echos
reverberating
in hollow chambers and vessels
the empty craving
carving her heart

even broken words
can point to the horizon
indicating the wholeness
of the swollen moon
as it hangs low and heavy
tumbling along in the
fullness of its cycle

even broken words
can point upward
indicating the infinite
in the cathedral skies
as translucent layers of
impossible number
and impossible shades of blue
together compose the deepest color
of the symphonic midday sky

even broken words
can heal

he smiles to hide
the hurt inside
his shining eyes
are only lies

he laughs out loud
despite dark clouds
that clog his mind
with thoughts unkind

he lives a life
of hidden strife
and this, his plight
he obscures with light

so see his smile
and know his guile
his favorite mask?
you need not ask

inhaled by the moon
on a night before full
as gauzy ghost fingers
grip the violet night
almost as if they were clouds
glowing with bone-light moonbeams
softly drifting like gossamer owl wings
over aubergine skies pin-holed by planets
and speckled with only the brightest of stars

if yesterday
decides my tomorrow
i am nothing but a ghost

deep-seated bone-chill is a cold reality
yet here i stand watching intently
as glacier-cold waters rush by a bend
in a thunderously steady march
navigating the rocky course
of my river with precision
and strict efficiency
always finding the
path of least
resistance

october has let roar
with a blanket of heavy
a hope-silencing fog
a deep down smothering
of everything good

so now i sit
trying to write
something happy
so october
doesn’t
drown
me

see?

it’s rough.

as his majesty, father sun
cast his loving gaze toward
her highness, mother earth

with her frosty mountains
and snowy plains
her frozen canyons
and crystalized skies

she blushed with
soft pink affection
in the light of his
glowing devotion

inundating the silence
of a frigid-blue dawn
with their lustrous love

is it what i see
or how i see it
that matters?

is it what i say
or how i say it
that really matters?

is it what i do
or how i do it
that truly matters?

is it being alive
or how i live my life
that really, truly matters?

a dark and sticky net
is catching all my words

i see some flying in the night
but they are too absurd

so i wait and wait and wait
until a worthy phrase

forms in that nowhere place
and emerges from the haze

her divine heart sings
the eternal song of life
to the rhythm of the moon
and dawn's melodious light

these rivers
are my blood
rhythmically pulsing
with the heartbeat
of winter’s inertia
and summer’s energy
an eternal throbbing

these mountains
are my body
growing but decaying
covered with life
but filled with death
for in the circle of nature
all things must eat

these winds
are my breath
created but creating
building and eroding
uncovering and burying
an inhaled exhalation
reverberation

these skies
are my mind
blowing and still
overcast and clear
the keeper of the stars
the ocean of the sun
the day-dreamer’s canvas

this place is in me
and i am in this place
and in this place
i am born again
and together
we are one again
tat tvam asi

does the caterpillar
fear
the entering of the cocoon
in the same way that we
fear
the entering of the tomb?

and now the sky is falling
a wounded heart is calling
heaven's filled with graying stars

life is full of leaving
but love is full of healing
they never stand that far apart

so i will stand as witness
and see the snake's rattle and hiss
as nothing more than what they are

and i will be just one
and bask under the sun
and heal this broken wounded-heart

the sun-fired clouds
cannot consume
the cool-blue slivers
of tonight’s sky

as nameless colors
dance to the rhythm
of fire and ice
in twilight’s silent waltz

just as many truths
are left unuttered
their presence being felt
but obscured by words

her ancient hallowed visages
enshrine his divine morning light
revealing their unending marriage

his wind-driven rain and ice
weather the signature of seasons
deeply etching her face

her birthed children
play amid gravity's attraction
populating her shoulders

his relentless currents
pulse through her cavities
conceiving their offspring

and as gleaming white aspen
flutter yellow-butterfly leaves
and dance on her curves

and as rainbow-shimmering trout
glide through his flowing heart
and dance in his stream

i feel their presence
living within juniper and boulder
and i dance in this moment

sunset blood drains
from transient clouds
as the bone-white moon
hangs in haughty defiance
over a jaundiced prairie

and as the life-giving sun
descends into its earthly grave
centuries of ghosts
whisper their hollow secrets
on the northern wind

they speak only of yesterday
amid the coagulating darkness
having long forgotten
the radiant life of today
and the promise of tomorrow

in the quiet of predawn
a butterfly awakes
and while resting on a twig
she warms her glowing wings
in the gathering light of day

she flits from bloom to blossom
as the sun climbs and falls
she sips from ambrosial pools
of mother nature’s bounty
while the western wind begins

and in the fading afternoon
as i sit in my spot
she finds the zinnia i grow
in the planter by my bench
and we share a moment

i see her and she sees me
and as she gracefully rides the breeze
my thoughts are silenced by her beauty
and as we watch each other
the universe stands still

the ninth shade
embraces mountain peaks
in the pure clarity of morning

frost clings to sagebrush
in the ascending sunlight
of the third-quarter moon

and as life pauses
to apprehend the spectacle
of a wintry summer morning

my bones feel
the transition of season
as autumn draws near

change

something
has to change

in this statement
lies a message that could
help us change the world

the problem we have is
we don't know exactly
what it is that has to change
it's just something

let's start with ourselves
and change the only person
that we have any control of
into that shining human being
that we think should fill the world

all that needs be said
is the very simple phrase
the two magic words
imagine this

a green grassy hill
with a tree on top
a deep blue sky
one fluffy cloud

a small house
beneath the tree
an iron fence
with a squeaky gate

an old woman creepily smiling
through a cracked window
beaconing you closer
to try her red apple

and with that
i relinquish my control
made you think
haha

the greatest poem
lies in front of you
as an empty page

the greatest song
lies in your voice
as a pregnant silence

the greatest artwork
lies in your hands
as a latent talent

the greatest day
lies in your waking
as a potent dawn

the greatest life
lies in you
as a human being

meet me in that place
where reality is dream
and poetry pervades
       where we touch without hands
       and see without eyes

meet me at that time
when life is only art
and music permeates
       when we dance without fear
       and sing without words

meet me then and there
where and when dissolve
and together we are light
       where our hearts beat as one
       when we share eternal breath

golden chains bind we the people
ancestrally smelted and forged
lashing us to imagined steeples
that we think were built by our lord

a deep seated need to be bound
like craving for love and security
in all can always be found
although veiled with obscurity

like the mountains that rise so high
as if reaching for distant crown
when piercing the cold blue sky
form the storms that then tear them down

that which was started will always end
birth leads to life and then leads to death
and while life itself will fight to defend
its path always leads to the final breath

so we clamor and fight to feel peace
while facing omnipotent demons
and for a moment their whispers cease
as we look to our ignorant beacons

barren canyon
echo-haunted walls
thirsty sand-blown dust

skeletal branches
stripped of life
sloughing-bark itch

shriveled snakeskin
crackles in disintegration
snagged on ancient sagebrush

but when her teardrop falls
the love buried in his desert heart
springs to unquenchable life

font springing from
the depths of a shallow pool

boiling with fervor
under glass-still surface

with effort i see i can see
through my own reflection

golden-bedrock streambed
red sand flowing downstream

and i know that this river
and my life are forever one

it was all very normal
until the pink elephant
walked in and whispered
in the prime minister's ear

when things calmed down
i walked up to the elephant
and while admiring his wings
i asked him what we all wondered

"i delivered the unfortunate news
that the arctic monkeys have all
finally frozen" he said with a smile
have you ever seen an elephant grin?

the wind left my chest with the sight
and blacking out i fell to the floor
the next thing i know i wake up
it's time for the next speaker

the blank page
scratched and scarred
by the pencil

the sharp pencil
sacrificing itself
to the page

the written page
does not feel tarnished
by the pencil’s residue

the dull pencil
does not feel diminished
by the loss of graphite

both page and pencil
when disfigured and destroyed
fulfill their potential

to walk the path of beauty
is not to shun ugliness
but to lovingly embrace it
until we can see
how beautiful it truly is

to walk the path of beauty
is not to hate the hateful
but to smile toward them
until they see their worth
in the reflection of our eyes

on a bright sunny day
in a wildflower meadow
near the mountain top
i fell into the chasm
that broke and split
me in two

in the dazzling sunlight
seated on a petal
of a long-stemmed beauty
the breeze whispered my name
and turning around
i found you

in the darkened recesses
of the innermost cavern
and under the trapdoor
hidden in the floor
of the bottomless pit
i found you

as the dark night splits
and relinquishes its grasp
succumbing to dawn
and all of its unnamed colors
the wind blows

as birds settle into nests
above a family of deer
all mid-morning napping
deep green cottonwood homes
along the milky-brown river
the wind blows

the sun seems angry
early afternoon
luminous yellow-white
fluffy but heavy clouds
dotting pale-deep blue skies
the wind blows

the thunder arrives
then chilling gusts
driven before the storm
turning day into darkness
and with wild ferocity
the wind blows

as if in reverence
as the sun nears the ridge
silent beings of all kinds
watching as the dying sun
slowly ignites the clouds
and still the wind blows

the low-hanging clouds
mean that god is in residence
on the mountain of serpents
just west of here

tendrils of holy mist descend
adding depth to my perception
of the many canyons and rises
that are just flat foothills most days

adding understanding
by obscuring
showing me more
by showing me less

only god moves in this way
i bow my head in reverence
for my father, god
for my mother, nature