hope's words soar to heaven's height
leaving much time for contemplation
during the silent fall to earth's reality

when one quietly walks the path
of wisdom and compassion
they scale the tallest mountain

when planted on the highest peak
the whole partake of both
heaven's height and earth's reality

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 mountain that is his heart
core of lava-basalt pressured granite
crumbled limestone shattered shale
clay pockets eroded sandstone
blowing in stinging swirls
taproot stabbed grassroot captive
rabbitbrush sagebrush cheatgrass
climbing to spruce fir and pine peaks
stony outcrops penetrating
her bluest-pale vaulted sky heart
he and she forever entangled
in life's beautifully rhythmic dance

stationary flow
brings
stagnant growth
causing
frozen metamorphosis

crystalline liquid
conveys
regressive expansion
birthing
rigor mortised evolution

impotent energy
deposits
deadend prosperity
delivering
impeded progression

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

he's lived ten thousand lives
he's died ten thousand deaths

he's helped uncounted beings
and he's hurt everyone

he's summited every peak
and died in every valley

he's been both emperor and thief
both savior and tyrant

he has laughed and he has cried
he lives and then he dies

still faithfully he trods
the path that never ends

the path seems like a circle
but the circle is a spiral

or so he tells himself

and deep inside
the king of dust
wishes all he knew
was covered and ******
into a forgotten land
of stone and rust

and the queen
she plays along

and the king
he knows he must
wallow and wail
in the tenement halls of lust
he cannot be left alone
with his lack of trust

and the queen
she sings his song

his humanity dwindled
when he called himself just
in the face of all
that will combust
and the pressure
of the thickening dust

and the queen
she suffers long

but the queen
has been done wrong

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

at this moment i am
crystalized and solidified
into this body and mind
that i call my self

when i die i become liquid
i exist only as a part of the whole
just as floating ice dissolves
my self will disappear

until i become a self once more
just like rain freezes to ice
melts and flows to the sea
then evaporates and falls as rain

but for the present moment
i pray that i'm as strong as a glacier
scraping canyons for mountain springs
carving a better world for those that follow

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

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

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

happily sad
stormily calm
beautifully ugly
rhythmically erratic

fully empty
friendly enemy
knowingly ignorant
quietly screaming

beginning infinite
ending neverending

i thought i was once a bird
rising falling with the breeze

i thought i was once spider
knitting delicate death traps

i thought i was once a mouse
nocturnally gnawing secret doors

i thought i was once a bee
flower jumping bumbling expert

i thought i was once a vine
strangling hosts as i climb

i thought i was once a lion
and all did bow and cower

i thought i once lived a life
or separate lives
one after the other

i was a bird surfing wind and breeze
i was a spider crafty web spinner
i was a mouse skittering dark passages
i was a bee flying life spreader
i was a vine by nature climbing and killing
i was a lion maimed and disgraced

i thought i was once another being
or so i told myself

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.

I watched
a thousand
warriors
butally
demised
before
I cried

Then
Old Yeller
died.

feathers grown long
downy infant transformed
dependent but independent

rotting nest disintegrates
slight breezes destroy
breaking home

unanswered food-prayers
turn terrifying sky unknown
into tempting frontier

brink-teetering feet
relaxing death grip
releasing into life

rubber ducky billows
bobbing in a blue sky bathtub
floating on a morning breeze

clouds moderating
liquid vitamin d sun
seeping deeply into pores

sundial shadows
belie still feet
connecting patio cracks

sweet daffodil vanilla air
narcissisticly teasing nostrils
spring swirling deliciously

a morning with no agenda

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

welcome screen
should read
creativity killer
talent ecpliser
time exterminator
idol of america

instead
it says
roku

heard without hearing
seen without seeing
touched without touching
odorous words
taste of pain

been without being
lived without living
died without dying
odorous words
taste of pain

felt without feeling
bruised without bruising
knelt without kneeling
odorous words
taste of pain

the fire of desire burns in every heart
until cindered ashes fall apart
revealing the cavern hidden inside
and if it feels full it's just
a lie

everything i threw into the fire
that i might quench thirstful desire
was consumed so quickly and then
the fire begged for fuel again
and again

there is no solace in this place
i am so ready to leave this race
and find in my heart once and for all
the peace that can only come from
the fall

out of this mindset and the stupid pace
to find again a peaceful head space
full of people that care for their neighbor
and help each other to
always remember

that we are nothing but love at our core
nobody wants to live at war
so why can't we  stop the constant fight
and instead see ourselves with a
clearer sight

and feel that our greatest power
comes in unity of every flower
that grows in this fertile garden
that was planted by god's
own hand

myriad biographies
trundling
cavernous wasteland
florescent battalions
rebounding
white tile headache
buy more feel less
human
be more by less

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

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

its very existence
is brought into question
each passing year
in this season-forsaken
corner of the world

the sun’s advance
toward this frigid
wind-blown high north
takes place behind
cloud-veiled skies

the transition from
empty white-brown winter
to full green-brown summer
happens suddenly
and on its own terms

terms that include
swollen buds nipped
frost-bitten daffodils
and late yellow crocus
blanketed in snow

rocky mountain spring is
late april sixty-degree days
trees in full leaf overnight
sticky snow-melt mud
and memorial day tulips

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

leaflets flirting with the warm breeze
sunset orange-coral nestling into grassy valley
             universal rose-colored lens half-hour
flower buds swollen with anticipated arousal

impossibly long shadows veil canyon walls
breaking rank, ducks' webbed feet descend
             glass-calm river pool flock-shattered
invisible trout shadows streak water-polished stones

butterfly-fluttered stomach flies with her touch
lightning-flash eyes shine under dark-forest lashes
             full lips birthing angelic-wit phrases
her room-lightening smile erupting with laughter

in the end,
hopefully
it seems that all
was for nothing.
that means that
our goal
has been met.
as a family of humans,
around the whole world,
we came together
and kept
our distance.
in doing so
we defeated an
invisible enemy.
together.

sleeping dogs don't lie
they only speak the truth
the truth of everything

the truth of every being
is that we all just want to eat
and nap under the sun

unless it's summertime
then we would prefer
to sleep in the shade

how am i supposed to

keep the house clean
while
doing my office job from home
while
home schooling my three kids
while
distancing myself from everyone
while
being so stressed about coronavirus
that
it feels like i've done a week's work
by tuesday

and

how do i do it all
without paper towels

i am tired

but i am still healthy

this guy beside me the one on my right
with the camel blazer complete with
corduroy elbow patches and
checkerboard leather buttons

he looks like he has a score to settle

he's mostly bald under his
brown-wool newsboy cap
i know because the spot
it dips pretty low in the back

his face is baby smooth but
he has polluted all of our nostrils
with cheap aftershave fumes
you cannot not notice the lurid air

he has accumulated a great wealth
of america's prized possession
and he wears it proudly around his midsection
he must have a hundred pounds there

his dark slacks are clean but old
his white shirt is pressed but polka dotted
with coffee stains the same hue
as his yellow teeth

he looks as if
he is trying very hard
to make an impression
but something has happened

his furrowed forehead
looks like waves lining up
readying to break themselves
on the shoreline of his brow
and there's a storm cloud casting ****** shadows
as it floats above his too-dark eyes
while his cheek twitches and i notice
a tangible jaw tension as thick as london fog
showing through his weighted jowls

i wonder what's wrong

i hope he's ok

i cast him a smile

and i'm on my way

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

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

this mountain made of limestone
limestone that long ago comprised
it comprised an ancient seabed
the seabed became desert
and the desert became mountain
the mountain reaches for the sky
but the sky withholds her rain
and rain’s metamorphic power
is power that the desert craves
craves like a lover lost
lost in the cruel cycle of time
but time brings evolution
and evolution the mountain knows
she knows that it’s her lover
and her lover never left her
never left her all alone
alone in the cycle of time
so in time she has faith
faith that she will once again
once again become an ocean
an ocean full of rain

smooth grey stones
bounce across the stream
as if begging for one last glimpse
of the rainbow-toned sunset

as they skip across
the fast current surface
before sinking into a watery grave
as i throw them to their death

again, he hears her first
a bright ripple on the breeze
pulses of lonely trilling

glancing skyward he catches
an hallucinatory glimpse
of her sand-stained wings

as if to avoid his gaze
she glides effortlessly into the
blinding back-light of the sun

she emerges head first
her red eye-mask glowing
in the midday illumination

overhead, she trills again
she circles and watches him
she is as curious as he

the greatest generation
are only kids now
i pray they do better
than we

in my sons' eyes burns
a brilliance unmatched
my hope for a world
gone astray
 
my daughter's heart's full
of compassion and peace
my hope for a world
full of hate

leaves petrified with frost
withered on aspen branches
hanging like skeletal cocoons
ice-crusted once-yellow dead-greys
and yet
a mountain-strong autumn-bright sun
resurrects fall for a few more days

i was just a kid
the first and last time
i picked up a barnyard kitten
she hit me with every sharp thing
she had in her arsenal
including her hiss
which i felt as much as i heard
in the same way you feel the rattle
when you hear the snake
that day i learned that
even cute things can be ugly

the unknown roars
with a deafening silence
that obliterates the mundane
raising fears from deep within
that we didn't know we had

so we attempt
to pace the time-worn path
one step at a time
one more time

there is nowhere to hide

within a starlit valley
a thousand miles away
the omnipotence of distance
broods a lonesome song
an echo of his vacant heartbeat
reverberates without embrace
humbling his lofty thoughts
as he dreams of his wishful place
within a starlit valley
a million miles away

Salmon bands scraping horizons.
Slate gray sky is a stage, set for play.
Birdsong warbling, crisp morning breath.
Tree skeletons swaying like anchored gnarled antlers.

Violet western sky, ocean deep.
Dark borders tracing mottled clouds,
highlights illuminated by heaven's gate.
Eroding canyon walls, rushed by angry winds.

the ball started rolling
so long ago
the start of a tale
that's too sad to unfold

and each time i gather
the courage to tell it
i remember
i can't take the end

but this map is impossibly
easy to fold
the thick paper
is wearing too thin

it's been opened and closed
too many times
as i look for the road
back to you

but search as i might
in the end i admit
that no matter
how hard I look

even though this old map
has not changed a bit
it no longer can lead me
to you

days that have past
are so out of reach that
i cannot get there
from here

and although this old road
has not changed a bit
it no longer can take me
to you

like a tunnel with a retreating exit
he felt his life slipping away
tightly held with his hands
loving hands that had never
ever caused pain
life became a lightning bolt
here and gone in an instant
only memory remains

and as the darkness gathers
all light and life into a pinpoint
he looks to his left
(it's always to the left)
and his angel unfurls her wings
and through her eyes he receives
the strength to hold on
and **** the unbearable thirst

she never forgets
and never forgives
the flick of her eye will destroy
the lump of coal heart
that combusts in her soul
is fanned by the unresting wind

she flies to me swiftly
on a cold thought
no concern or remorse in her wake
the gods cannot hear
and will never accept
the unerring advice that she gives

she is borne on the breeze
and never looks back
truth's sword falls broken behind
her will and desire
ride blossoming wheels
that burn in the sky of my mind

the hole in her heart
will never be filled
and if it was it would implode again
a goddess like she
can never find peace
such is the way of the wind

let princes of peace
and warring warriors
hear her name and never forget
their unholy birth
or their place in heaven
while the moon grinds the stars to fine dust

cross
the river
deep and wide
the gulf
of our
divide

should we
strain against
the current
or ride
the raging
torrent

life
is always
full of change
nothing ever
stays
the same

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

and move
mountains
to the ocean
like the channel
that is
flowing

within
the river
deep and wide
the gulf
of our
divide

i was born
in a frail basket
on the river of souls
that unceasingly flows
from heaven to hell
and back again

riding the rapids and
swimming the pools
i float through the
valley of time
as it reveals itself amid
the eternal mountains

when this journey
is through and i reach
the deep sea
my reflection will join
the countless stars
of lifetimes past

and there i'll be free
until i descend
to do it all again
and there i'll be free
until i descend
to do it again