Biology shapes us
Society shapes us
The circle around us shapes us
The book we read, shapes us
The road we travel, shapes us

May be...
The circle we keep distance
Could have shaped us better
The book we skipped to read
Could have shaped us better
The road we bypass
Could have shaped us better
The fall we fear to embrace
Could have shaped us better
The collision we prevent
Could have shaped us better

Understanding shapes us
Consciousness shapes us
You are you
I am I
I am you

I got to bathe an elephant,
in Wyoming of all places.
It was not in a zoo
nor captive in any way.
No, this was a free and
autonomous individual,
an elephant all its own.

It rejoiced when I sprayed
it with the hose. The water
bubbled and frothed from
its trunk. It shook and blew,
smiled and stomped, as
the red desert dust ran down
its legs and pooled at its feet.

We experienced joy in
experiencing joy and became
weightless in our own levity.
Never have I felt such
loving gratitude, nor purity
of soul, as I felt emanating
from this great, sentient beast.

We played for hours in the water
and sun, laughing in the middle
of this little western town,
plain for anyone to see.
But when I smiled and looked
around, I had the strangest
feeling that nobody had noticed…
nobody, that is, but me.

walking off into the arms of death
smothering, trying to find my last breath
maybe I wasn't the worst, but wasn't the best
walking off into the arms of death

holding all that I have inside
overfilled with all the things that've died
I just can't get my mind to that size
holding all that I have inside

walking off into the arms of death
dizziness is from finding my breadth
maybe I wasn't the worst, but never the best
walking off into the arms of death

We can be perfect. Maybe not by the imperfect standards of others. But they say nobody's perfect. They don't believe in perfection. They never watched a bird in flight, headed south. Perfect. A baby crying for food, perfect. Our consciousness can be perfect, if even for a minute. That means we can too. There are games that are impossible to be perfect at. Then there are parlor games such as pool, darts and bowling. You can be perfect at those sometimes, if you practice. The same goes with life. If we think we can't be perfect, then it is impossible. If we aspire to think perfect thoughts, then those thoughts aspire forever. Forever. I fail all the time, but it is my own fault, because I try things that are said to be impossible. Why not?

🌙 🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙
at the confluence
where the rivers
of the past and future merge,
there
in that tranquil present,
time and i cease to exist.

dissolved like sugar in water,
to be one with
that crescent bearing jewel
who’s ever pure like white jasmine
🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

© 2022

Today is a day
for healing and feeling
the steadiness in the storm
and the beauty of the final cloud
dissipating from the manifest
back into what is always.

Today is day
for stepping into
and out of
and onto a something
that has always been,
though may seem hidden
or only just slightly out of reach
or a whole other incredible elsewhere.

And today is a day
for simple being
and admiring the breath
and tasting the whispers of breezes
and seeing waves of sound
as color
on the wings in flocks of catbirds;
a day for boldness in truth
and tenderness in heart and
leaving dust where it falls
and belongs in the past.

Today is a day
for living now
and seeing what comes
each moment anew;
not focused on clouds,
no matter how mesmerizing,
but attuned to alive and being
just whatever this life is.

Today is a day like every day.

Today is a day for seeing
that time isn’t forever.

And today is a day
for connection
and inter-being
with every form
filled with this life
which comes into this life
today.

I must learn
to travel lighter.

Steps from Nowhere
leading to Nothing
cannot be retraced.

The bounding footfalls
of another sentience
echo through labyrinthine
hallways of consciousness
that never lead back
to a common room—
that central location
where one can sit and
saying knowingly,
"Ahh, here I am."