oh morning rain
wash away my pain
take away my shame,
and soften this heart of stone

morning moon flying high
in the waking sky
help me befriend the dark

oh darkness in my soul
help me accept you
so I may walk in the *Light

never slows
river of life
flowing beautifully
into the infinite

whispers of forgotten
I love yous drift into
my mind

1.  Cultivate the garden of your soul
2.  Clear away the weeds by being honest
3. Stop playing God
4.  Ask for help, and find a community where you can be vulnerable.
5.  Find a safe space to grow, and where you can give and receive help.

your light exudes a mystical glow
things are revealed and yet still hidden
I love walking through the night
under your magical glow

my heart is filled with love and gratitude
for each moment shared with you

I hope you never loose your sense of wonder and awe
nor your contagious laughter of wild abandon

you are a daring explorer
an artist of wondrous imagination

may you keep growing and learning
with your free rebellious spirit

thank you for being a great teacher
of how to  embrace the now

we play in this very moment
we live in this very moment
we love in this very moment
we pray now

each moment blossoms into the infinite now

no words to describe the love I feel for you in my heart

may your heart embrace all of life's joys and sorrows
with gratitude

i'm no longer that shy awkward kid
that walked this path 10 years ago.

                                                                           maybe a part of me will always be that kind, but today
                                                                           i'm also a man in his 30s walkin' tall.

i used to chase oblivion, because
it's all i knew how to do.                        

                                                                          i embrace peace, even at the price of boredom, and
                                                                          welcome silence even when it means being alone.

I can either run
or face everything
with divine assistance

no longer walking
alone

facing life as I help
*others

o sleep
you are almost within my grasp
so close and yet so far away

o blissful rest
wash over me
give my weary mind an oasis

o restless mind
please yield and stop pursuing me
into the depths of insanity

your soft purrs lull
me into peace
friend for life

I am grateful for the breath of life flowing through me

Grateful I am no longer waking up each day hating life and praying to die

Each day sober  is truly a gift even when I go through discomfort

Grateful for today with all its joys and sadness

I know I am in love
when your snores
sound like music

a bliss
to embrace
what is
at peace
with **everything

my love
it has been a year of sharing life together
waking up together
cooking and eating together

holding hands and going for walks
brushing away your tears
laughing together from our bellies

may these words be a blessing to you and me
so we may continue to live out our vows to
be faithful and loving as long as we both shall live

I am grateful to be walking this journey with you

i've been lost                             for so long
that it feels wrong                    to be home.
being at peace                           and to belong
seems abnormal,                      which seems insane.

i am finally home,                    a place  that i can be me
where i  am free                        and learn to grow.

home is                                      where my heart goes
my heart                                    always with me.

love is listening
to you snore

love is patiently waiting
for you to calm down

love is being able to just be
and present to each other

love is opening ourselves
to this very moment

love simply is

God, do you care?

Your kids are killing each other.

.                             bodies                                   more
                                colliding                       ­       than an
                                        gently in                            emotion
                           ­              infinite                             tied to physical
                                       space and time                connection,
                                 ­          unfolding into                and yet found
                                        each other                         in carnal lust.
                                     and becoming                  a language spoken
                                            one.                ­           in silence.

bodies move
           my heart beats
                   my breath becomes short

sometimes life always seems in motion
                    moving too fast for me to catch up
                                    strange that i am trying to catch up
                                                                ­                                  to my own life

as i slowly become aware of my breath
my life begins to slow down
i am still in motion,
but my head is quiet and my heart is at peace.

i am grounded in the inner cell of my heart,
and now i can go about doing the will of my Creator
with a heart at ease.

your laughter bursts through
all my insecurities

your smile reminds me why
I love you

my heart laughs with you

may your song break through
the darkness of the night
and welcome the dawn

may your song give hopeless hearts
a taste of wondrous beauty
that touches even darkened souls

today I am free
to love without fear,
without hatred in my heart

today I am free,
resentments no longer bleed
into all my thoughts and actions

today I am free
to give and receive love
without expectations

Because deep in my center
I experience a loving God that
loves me today and everyday

to trend or not to trend?
who know why poems trend,
and why announcements that are not poems
end up on daily poems.

my validation and hope comes from connecting
to myself, God and others through the art of language.
I hope those who walk the lines of desperation as I have,
find some peace in reading the words of others who
have made it to the other side.

life is not all sunshine and rainbows,
but I definitely don't wake up each day
wishing I was dead like I used to.

there is hope and it all started with me admitting
my way was not working.

i am grateful today to be alive and to find hope and strength
in all of you, who are also trying find meaning and purpose
through creative expression of the written word.

thank you. love you.

vague thoughts
muddled with desire
surging me into nothing

searching for meaning
in meaningless small talk
desperate for connection

lost, only to be found,
then discarded
what a loss?

all of life's dramas
acted and reenacted,
before last call.  

more time to drown
our sorrows away
into oblivion

a force so fierce that I have no defense
my rushing thousand thoughts makes me tense
convulsing into delusion  and madness
overtaken by unending sadness

how can love that used to make me high
now make my whole soul sigh
into the breach i plunge unknown
and all my front is blown

i stand naked and trembling
still my mind is rumbling
my only hope and solution comes deep inside of me
a loving Higher Power that helps me simply be

thoughts fragment
until hardening to cement
locking me in fear

just a little bit longer
linger in my arms
as our breaths sync in rhythm
and our bodies lie heart to heart
stay with me
just a little bit longer
as the everything else fades away
for a few moments
the only thing that matters is
our hearts beating as one

energy within
flowing like a
mighty river
to the ocean

divine creator,

may my soul awaken with a passionate breath
and a deep thirst for yourlove.
let your Divine flame burn in me,
so I may share your light in this darkened world

dear stranger who I have yet to call a friend,
may you be guided on your journey towards
wholeness and freedom.

may we lift each other up on our journey,
when our paths cross instead of turning a blind eye
or too busy to see that one of us has fallen.

may the Divine Light shine in me
may my life speak

peace flows like a river
when I open my heart

I love you
                            i loved you even when i put you through harm,
                            even when i put chemicals into your body.

I'm sorry
                           for all the times i hated you, and almost took your life.
                           I chased oblivion and thought that would bring me peace.

Please forgive me

                           , so i may learn to love you. you and i are one.  

Thank You
                            for loving me even in small glimpses of hope in my darkest
                            moments.  you kept me safe so i may return home to you.
                            home to the seat of my heart.

are we dead on arrival from birth?

our lives feel like such a burden even
as we receive life's great joys.

am I the only one that feels this way?

the light of the sun shines even when
my own perception creates clouds to
cover the light.

am I truly free or forever pulled back into a slow surrender of indifference?

my apathy has been breaking away, but sometimes it returns to cover me
in darkness.

will love set me free?

forever more
love abides
even in
the dark
lonely places

creation came into existence when the Divine
spoke the world into existence

in pueblo mythology,
Spider Woman weaves the world together
with her words.

the spoken word is a powerful thing,
words heal, break, mend, soothe, hurt, and console.

words can woven into lies that grow out of proportion,
or speak the simple honest truth.

sometimes the best action to take for me is
holding my tongue,
until i am absolutely moved by my inner convictions
to speak.  easier said than done.  

i write, and i used to preach from pulpits.  
today, i speak the truth in safe spaces to share, in my home,
to my daughter learning to speak, and mostly to my Higher Power.

it is true freedom to be able to finally after all these years,
be able to do what i say, and walk the walk.

wholeness is just out of reach

then it hits me
I am still seeking something
external to make me whole

Instead I now go inward towards
my knawing emptiness
and I make friends with my
suffering and pain

now in my heart there is good soil
for seeds of hope and love to grow

A faint mumur of what has been lost remains.
The words you spoke linger in my heart,
and yet the toxic way we related is gone.

Love remains despite all the hurt, joys and tears.

The laughter of a child's smile stirs my heart alive,
and I remember to embrace life.
I realize I am part of the bigger dream of the Creator,
and I sing a song of gratitude.

Love remains despite all the hurt, joys and tears.

After everything I am still standing and
saying a simple prayer,
*"Thank You."

my thoughts run wild
as I sit in silence

I focus on my breath
and my thoughts go off
like pop-corn

I come to my breath and posture
I keep thinking about an itch
I can't reach

I keep coming back to my breath
and to this very moment

i have been silent
words do not flow out of me
i am a steady stream of silence

              words spoken out of turn
              used to incite great reactive storms
              in the mind and body of my father
  
                             sometimes i am silent because of fear
                             but lately i am silent, because i speak
                             with my body and actions

                                         i no longer speak hollow words that **** life out
                                         words that lead to further disconnection
                                         today, when i speak  i choose words of connection

                                                                   little by little
                                                     peace
                                                                   grows in me

sitting still long enough to be,
                                                one      ­of the hardest things to do for me.
i am lost when i start life    with     all the shoulda woulda couldas of my
                                                life,      b­ecause it shrouds my openness to this very moment.
i'm embracing my heart to be         free of the demons of my own making.
                                                whole  ­for the first time, I can't help erupting  with laughter at
the joy and sadness of it all.

a well of anger
              explodes inside of me. i no longer want to hold it in. i'm
full of      fear.  don't know how to express anger in healthy ways.

my outbursts last fraction of a second, but that's all you need to
put a fist through a wall.  

i've put on my nice polite mask for too long.
it feels like it's all for naught.  

am i my anger?  am i my fear?
all i can now is to embrace the parts
of me that i don't like and turn to
it to say, "thank you for coming.  
i love you."

my anger smiles back and
loves me back.  
my fear turns into hope.

my mask falls to the ground
to prepare the soil for new life
to grow.