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

the cheer of lemon petals
radiates from cerise centers
and floats on summer breezes
that carry meadowlark melodies;
music written by the soul of nature
for the open hearts that hear her love

blanketed in a polar cold
woven by the hollow sun
the hibernating hills
dream of sultry days
and the return
of forsaken love

though veiled by the clouds of silence
her full moon heart rises in his mind
and by faith alone, he offers all he is
to the invisible brilliance of her love
as she beckons from the darkness
with tendrils of stillness and peace

sometimes
i want to implode
and swallow the things i said
turn back time
crawl into the womb
and never come out again

this time of year
so they don't disappear
i use my vacation days

i sit in a haze
thinking of ways
to justify deep hibernation

or at least a migration
to a southern location
until the warm weather's return

but for now I must burn
the hours I earn
because I must use them

or lose them

to stand beneath a sunlit
flowering cherry
is to stand in the
presence of
god

***** clouds smudge
across heavy skies
laden with tawny soot

sagebrush steppe glows
under jaundiced light
blazing wildfire summer

at the edge of night
vultures circle
the bones of another day
leaving me
one sunset
closer to my grave

he bleeds music
liquid melodies and clotted rhythms
that spurt in pulsating streams
from the open wound
of his beating heart

he lives in the key of b
with a love
that cannot
be freed

and the years fall away
like pages torn noiselessly
from the skin-bound book of my life

and dropped from a magnificent height
they flutter samara-style slow
lighting upon the dusty hardwood floor
like feathers piling up softly, silently
as they clutter the the library of me

and i sift through the pages
scavenging for gilded gold
but instead i find only me
and for once, that is enough

and for once, i am enough







.

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

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

looked up to you so long
i stumbled on your feet
didn't realize we stand
on the same street

but your status didn't fall
in fact you helped me see
in view of everything
the one i need is me

wyoming spring
is like a campfire

the sun's beautiful light
burns your face

while the constant wind
freezes the shadows

happy mediums
are for other lands

sometimes people are toxic
but since they don't have fangs
their poison must be ingested
and thus their power does wane
for we have the freedom of choice
when blighted words waft our way
to listen and swallow their venom
or simply to walk away

a land textured with years
and sage-scented experience
crackles under boot-clad foot

and within flowing crystalline skies
a cloud's dream of permanence
withers like the desert sand below

this daily death
and nightly rebirth
these swelling buds
and falling leaves
this piling snow
and torrential flow

this in- and ex- halation

this building warmth
and inertia of cold
this body grows
and then it grows old
this rhythm of life
and imminent death

pervades everything i see
so, could it be
that, perhaps, this rhythm is me

last thing  i remember
counting backward
cold room fading

chest cracked
exposing heart
broken but
still beating

illusion of control
dissolves like
anesthesia

hours and days
coagulate
dripping
through
my fingers

am i ok
not sure i want 
an answer

sternum
consumed
blue flame
of pain

but

dawn's light
growing

and

i awaken
three month
night

i am ok
but i will
never
be the same

now
I bleed
for all

and none

will bleed
for me

the mountain speaks
of being anchored
by roots so deep they burn

and this ancient wisdom
is reiterated by tree limbs
groaning against the wind

but light-hearted crows
taunt the stagnant below
as they surf the invisible tide

and having ascended
the golden eagle sees all
in the light of the setting sun

and I find myself torn
between being rock steady
and living while i'm alive

in my eyes there's a hope
a hope that floats on a sea
a sea of possibility

and as i swim through this world
this world full of wonder and horror
bathed in the wonder i felt as a child
while chasing the hope of the unkown
and the horror of the unknown
of this premordial sea on which i float
of how so much depends on me

i see that the unknown is all that is known

i float alone on the unknown
and it haunts me
it excites me
this sea of potentiality
that utterly surrounds me
and i float on alone

alone

afraid

and in love

in love with the unknown
in love with the hope
the hope that the unknown

is love

euthanized epiphanies
fluttering vacant thoughts
hope's expectation
breaks on waterfall rocks
creation of oblivion
averted sideways glance
stares of isolation
all is happenstance

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

quarter moon asymmetry
casts shadowed light
twilight’s first breath
gasps with coming night

hollow empty distance
star-glitter kiss
night’s violet depth
mysterious abyss

under sapphire-clouded skies
a subtle stillness settles
quieting an anxious heart
and relieving worldly pressures

breathing in sweet mountain air
our mother's strength fills my lungs
as up the steepest trail i climb
every obstacle is overcome

sunlight's touch warms my face
like father's power, omnipotent
and as my soul sings in praise
vanished is my discontent

as i scale this mountain
i feel like i belong
and though i feel invited
drawn by the wind’s song
the pungent scent of sage
on the springtime breeze
tells me to tread lightly
for i am only visiting

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

if i were to write a love poem
you would be sunset's grace
adorned in vibrant and living fire
and i would write how with you
i feel completely at home
as if you were a canyon's embrace

if i were to write a love poem
you'd be an iridescent songbird
that nests effortlessly in my heart
and i would write of dancing
and fluttering butterfly wings
and rivers that run through my veins
all while singing your name

if i were to write a love poem
you would be the delicate prism
of every wildflower bloom
and i would write of myself
and how i need no one else
but it all would be written for you

a silver thread ties me to you
stitching us both to the same moon
and bound together by love sublime
we are woven into the fabric of time

feeling
vibration

propagate
through

rosewood
and maple

gentle
waves

imprinting
harmonies

soul
deep

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

crucify the king
he cares for us no more
the gifts he gives are rotten
and ****** us at the core

we'll celebrate no longer
the birth immaculate
no one can believe it
she was not celibate

fear not my merry friends
there is no need to cry
new leadership we've found
you'll see him by and by

the burden that he carries
is the sack of gifts he'll bring
while suited in the crimson
that leaked out of the king

under the cross he'll leave
for every girl and boy
a reason to be selfish
and buy into his ploy

no need for guilt or penance
it's all come to a head
no need for soul salvation
let's play a game instead

so take my hand and see
the pleasure to be had
no need for self improvement
put your trust in this year's fad

golden locks caress her shoulders
as light upon horizons’ play
softly falls the moonlit night
as stars slip through the veil of day

she speaks in tones of tenderness
as her ashen light fades to grey
filling up his empty cup
with the words he couldn’t say

immortal wedding band
encircling the globe
dividing evening from twilight
and dark of night
from morning light

the ring remains unbroken
since the first kiss of the sun
tracing our home's rolling pace
in dancing color
light's embrace

and as i watch the light fade
and clouds catch heavenly fire
i know i see just half the halo
with each day's end
glow and shadow

and half a world away
a man looks to the east
and he sees the other half
and he realizes in himself
with a soulful laugh

that half a world away
a man like me looks west
and as I see my half above
he knows it's the same halo
that we both know and love

the halo never rests
it's dance never complete
and until time's timely end
around the world
it will always bend

to remind all god's creations
with flowing golden-purple hues
that they are in the loving hand
of the ultimate being
that knows each grain of sand

there has only been one day
since the creation of the world
the sun has never died
and never been reborn

the bones of a poem
ride on the storm
that bellows through
wood-fired red skies
and they rattle all night
but with dawn's light
i release them
as butterflies

the only way out
is in
never arriving
at center
realization
the only way in
is out
never arriving
at edge
realization
no center
no circumference
awakening
just be
and be free

just pick up
the pen
let it flow

just pick it up
and you will know

what needs
to be said
or rather read

someone
will read it
relate it
restate it

just grab
the pen
let it bleed

let it bleed
for you
for him
for her
for them
for us
let it bleed
altar wine
savior's blood
permanent ink

that which sees
that which the eye sees
will never be seen

that which hears
that which the ear hears
will never be heard

that which knows
that which the mind knows
will never be known

see the unseen
hear the unheard
know the unknown

the golden age will start
when children of the father
and children of the mother
join hands in the realization
that they are sister and brother
all living lives of loving each other

and in seeing the beauty in all
ignorance and judgment will fall

and so let it begin
and let it begin with me

on good days
sunrise follows sunset
the world of beauty
is born fresh each morning

on bad days
sunset follows sunrise
darkness is coming
we're all gonna die

every other day
(most) days of the year
i have more important
things to do

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

known from history to history
and named in every age
the muse our of imagination
circles above the darkened stage

firmly held by winter's grasp
but heralding the birth of spring
starlit hope shines from afar
breathing life into eternal dreams

living
will ****
you




eventually

mystified by the moon
i wander westward
toward the crags and pines
of a rocky mountain horizon

i see her fullness flowing
her skin slowly shedding
as she freely lets go
of all that which she was given

without fear she moves
slowly descending
into her mountain grave
disappearing from my view

i witness her gentle death
fully aware of the illusion
and i rejoice in her birth
on the far side of the globe

as this goddess lights my path
my heart turns to my god
who each and every day
lends me my life’s breath

knowing that someday
i too, must let it go