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

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

the notes her hand wrote kindled his fire
and he devoured each secret word
with her scripted craft she unlocked an abyss
too deep for his screams to be heard

and his hunger swallowed him whole

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

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

if yesterday
decides my tomorrow
i am nothing but a ghost

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

traces of faces
and what they said
places and spaces
and paths i've tread
grace's embraces
the tears that i shed
interlaces encases
this mental homestead

the fires of yesterday
reach through the gulf of night
with acrid fingers of smoke
and ember-glowing eyes

whispering like a reality that never was
or a game that never ends
played by a life that is never lost

and in the tongue of forgotten souls
they speak in uncertain terms
of charcoal hearts and burned-out love

for they no longer see the living now
or believe in the promise of tomorrow
failing to see the glowing light
that dwells in their own ember eyes

sunlight smashes
back of my eye

lightning streaking
all that I see

channel circulating
river of pain

heartbeat throbbing
drumming my skull

senses dulling
words escape me

voice echoing
time for lights out

my mind still sees
with my eyes closed
fears and fantasies

my mind still speaks
with my mouth closed
judgments and critiques

my mind still feels
with my hands closed
emotions and ideals

my mind still dreams
with my eyes open
past events and schemes

my mind still churns
with my body still
what if and regret burns

my mind still dances
with my body asleep
visions and memory glances

it is the first
It is the last
unquenchable thirst

god's greatest gift

happily sad
stormily calm
beautifully ugly
rhythmically erratic

fully empty
friendly enemy
knowingly ignorant
quietly screaming

beginning infinite
ending neverending

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

upside down
the tree
mirrors
it's branches
in the soil

inside out
the mind
mirrors
it's masks
on the tongue

inside out
the heart
mirrors
it's  secrets
on the face

upside down
the root
mirrors
it's arms 
in the air

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

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

and when he is still
he sees himself in her
a fractal born of her design
mirrored in the cold blue clarity
of his quiet eyes
reflected in the wildness
of his sky-bound mind
her crystalline river
flowing through his heartbeat
echoing his love
for her creation

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

I watched
a thousand
warriors
butally
demised
before
I cried

Then
Old Yeller
died.

boulder blood birth
sheep stomped ****
dying dead debris
haven habitat home
friendly feeding full
planet populace plenty
mutually mothering masticating

feeling
vibration

propagate
through

rosewood
and maple

gentle
waves

imprinting
harmonies

soul
deep

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

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

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

under cover of darkness
the tiger stands still
knowing
she hasn't been seen

but i feel her presence
loud and clear
like i'm seeing
an actual ghost

my first advance
wounds her left foreleg
as she claws me
with her right

the struggle ensues
as we both land
a series of
hefty blows

we catch our breath in
each other's eyes
and see the battle
commence and end

and knowing ourselves
we nod or heads
understanding
we both will win

we go our separate
ways for now
both knowing
we'll meet again

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

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

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

it's the shadow that indicates depth
it's the silence between the chords
it's the rest between the long days
it's the quiet that separates words

it is space allowing for growth
it's the emptiness that can be filled
it's the void that creates the world
it must be vacant before we can build

it is sad times that bring on the good
it's the sour that makes sense of sweet
it is cold that makes me crave warmth
it is hunger that makes food a treat

it's when i'm gone that i love my home
it's the down that makes the up high
it was god that made lucifer
it is death that makes life alive

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

the dry straw-brown chains
have started to corrode

the lush green oxidation
of life-bearing spring
is slowly overcoming
winter's ******* again

the frozen fetters will fail

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

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

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

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

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

written in each sunrise with watercolor ink
for all of her beloved children to see
the mother paints with the light she receives
creating beauty and sharing it openly

and sometimes, i feel
she does it just for me

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

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

a book with no cover
lies in our bones
depths of experience
no one else knows
guiding our words
by memories enclosed
written with hearts
by minds void of prose

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

in his fortress
he sits friendless
he's sheltered
himself
from
all

and now

he sits friendless
in his chair
reminiscing
of times
long
past

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

divinity in all
all in divinity

in yourself
see divinity

in your neighbor
see yourself

in your neighbor
see divinity

see divinity
see beauty
everywhere

love divinity
love yourself
love your neighbor
love all

defeating the lion, he enters the gate
and upon reaching the tree
the serpent swallows the apple

with whispering eyes he speaks -
"fear not" as the feathers sprout
displacing glimmering scales

the earth-bound is released
strong wings lift the slithering skyward
his flat view of the world annihilated

ouroboros halos appear like shadows
forever attached but never owned
he sees the world  impaled on herself

and now, freed from eden
he enters the garden of the mother
and knows that he and she are one

the bitter fruit of the blessed tree
transformed the snake into an eagle
reborn, he sees the world anew

rain
fed by
sea
fed by
river
fed by
rain
fed by
sea
fed by
river
fed by
rain
river
sea
ever
flowing
existence
to
existence

deep cronk spruce-needle muffled
feathers a dark too deep to be black
seeing each other she changes course
resonantly calls and turns toward me
spine-running chill butterflies exploding
she slows connecting with me in study
three infinite seconds to remember