#transitory
It’s not the 19th century anymore,
the ocean, after all, is not just wide, it’s deep.
voice is beyond human.
a flicker of it
draws out the vapor trails
from each bygone freedom.
because there’s no resting on pretty and nowhere to hide.
and so I call out to the past of you;
who you once were or might of been.
the problem with names:
some things are too fragile to name;
broken to begin with.
I can only try to understand
the constraints of the body,
of only having 10 fingers, two feet,
and a finite wingspan.
Dec 13, 2025
Dec 13, 2025 at 10:39 AM UTC
From love to exhaustion
This intangible thing between us
Geography is just a symptom
(Affliction...)
(Endocrine...)
Deux mesures de solitude
The downturn sun of your skin
Is my broken ally
We love as enemies
In the jagged darkness
If only we could live as easily as we die
Oct 16, 2025
Oct 16, 2025 at 7:43 AM UTC
So many “road stories”
from the Odyssey, and Kerouac, to Augustine.
Each rich in emotion and spirit
most of the stories
have the hero hitched to a fellow traveler
to bathe the soul in word and mood
to throb with the music.
I have recurring dreams.
I’m in a hotel looking for an elevator
can’t find my floor or room
or can’t find my car downtown.
I wander streets, and lots.
Are there road stories hidden in these dreams?
Why do I trip, fall
stay misplaced and lost
find only
transitory
destinations?
May 9, 2022
May 9, 2022 at 10:55 PM UTC
~
*this once sound vessel
succumbing to agony,
as if scuttled by
a siren at sea,
and in her heart
flutters and sunbeams,
she's not alone
in her dreams,
there's a torch light
with wings, dancing
about her wounds,
it burns of empathy,
but too numb to feel the pain
of her dying rooms,
hereabouts goodbye,
under the silk of anesthesia,
she whispers,
"blade of grass, then away we fly..."*
~
Mar 3, 2021
Mar 3, 2021 at 8:02 PM UTC
Life began,
as autumn fell,
And the leaves turned to ice on the pavement.
Shadows shortened,
The earth went stale
And cold darkness filled every moment
As summer arrived
And the earth turned bleak
Despair peppered the path laid before me
Water pelted the earth
And the leaves turned weak,
Littered corpses of love strewn beneath me
Lost and alone,
With a grimacing soul
Trading pieces of me with the seasons
Futures wasted on hate,
Dreams darkened in cold,
Winter ripping my mind of all reason
Night fled the sky
And the shadows retracted
Darkness left, to you standing above me
Empowering my hope,
With devotion requited
And a future that stretched far beyond me
Your hands were soft
And the warmth of your smile
Lit fires behind eyes that were lonely
Your taste and your touch
Stretched metres to miles
Giving love. Giving hope. Giving glory
All I wanted was you
All I hoped for was you,
Our lives are a journey together
From season to months
Your strength sees me through
With a love that will last til forever
Aug 18, 2020
Aug 18, 2020 at 10:27 AM UTC
Janus-faced, she sits in her
Sinister bathing tub
Cleansing herself from
Fallen lovers
The very ones
She devised subtle ends to
Lest they should claim
Her heart for a kingdom
Vandals of her plumage
Whom she allowed
To drink from her stream
Once or twice
A god of vengeance sent her
A message in a bottle today
To prove the origin of her flow
And remind her that time is
Fly-by-night
Jun 19, 2020
Jun 19, 2020 at 11:59 AM UTC
Between the envelope and gondola I'm lighter-than-air. Montgolfier-style? Not really. I ascend as a prayer with his eyes wide shut, timid in the feel for heaven. Speaking of heaven, some say it's no longer a gated community, but the association fees have doubled. Really I float like a Yost, flaming onboard for the photo shoot. The morning pass is for the kids with spending power. The noon move, and media darling, catches the Comic-Con crowd just stumbling out of a parent's basement. The night drift, drink in hand, mimics the trigger man who got his days confused from too much killjoy. Laissez-passer both giveth and taketh away -- there is no immunity in the sky, no amnesty to assign my crimes to. I'm just your smiley actor on the Netflix trail. You love me for a season or until my balloon gets popped. Whichever comes first.
Jun 3, 2020
Jun 3, 2020 at 10:58 AM UTC
the transitory nature of
your touch
disconcerting emotions sustained
by memories that stick like dust
i can’t get enough of this-
whatever ‘this’ is
my mind harps on about
your warmth, presence, and kiss
your broken hands grasp mine,
my poisoned lips touch yours;
nothing more than a sad race
to see who succumbs first
to the secret silencing both of us:
subdued, i bite my tongue
‘love’s’ just a synonym for ‘guilt’
and guilt’s the only race that i have won.
May 16, 2018
May 16, 2018 at 8:43 PM UTC
Waves speak
to the shore
in rippled verse
scattered shell
strands of kelp
in the sand
each visitor
inscribes a story
*sandpiper, wigeon, crow
raccoon, otter, coyote*
I read each one
as I write my own
Jan 6, 2017
Jan 6, 2017 at 9:04 AM UTC
I am here
Yet most times I'm not
Likened to a fleeting zephyr
Perchance may be caught
Beyond the bend, it's hard to see
Uncertain, unpredictable, unsure
There are chances however unlikely
To chart life's trot and canter
Awaiting the moment I would voraciously savour
The fullness of my being that's rare and transitory
Because almost always,
I'm drowning in doubt and clamour
With fevered breaths drawn more quickly
Apr 10, 2016
Apr 10, 2016 at 10:31 AM UTC
/\/\^^/\^
***wrinkled mountain sits
old trees bow down in respect
even rivers are slow!***
SoulSurvivor
5/14/2015
(repost)
Feb 21, 2016
Feb 21, 2016 at 10:41 AM UTC
Awake to a slowly beating drum
morning meditation drifting up the hill
in the garden, tiny birds add sweet highs
tuneless ravens, the bass undertone
trees whisper ancient lyrics
on the passing breeze.
We stroll the Path of Philosophy
through massive wooden gates
into carefully sculpted gardens
exploring the endless number
of temples dotting Kyoto
each more lovely than the last.
Quiet Nanzen-Ji
is where I feel the most
following worship worn
steps to a cave-shrine
heady with wet
and incense
we are purified
by waterfall spray
before returning
the way we came
voices hushed
buoyed by eternity’s hand.
The hotel lobby is filled
with crimson and saffron
glistening heads and broad smiles
from monks gathered there
we bow to each other and are one
may it never be forgotten
revelers arrive by busload
for hanami, cherry blossom viewing
beneath a revered tree
decked out in pink splendor
lit from below to radiate
surreal, internal light
we sample Kobe yakitori
soba and corn
grilled over open flame
as we flow
through the smiling
celebratory crowd
we savor
what is transitory
as sparks
and blossoms whirl
settling on
our hair and skin.
Jan 13, 2016
Jan 13, 2016 at 12:15 PM UTC
*Raindrops marking points
On waves breaking beyond shores
So faint our affair*
Jul 28, 2015
Jul 28, 2015 at 6:33 PM UTC
HAIKU
***wrinkled mountain sits
old trees bow down in respect
even river is slow!***
Mar 7, 2015
Mar 7, 2015 at 8:43 AM UTC
A turtle shrinks into its shell
Then shrivels,
Grape to raisin,
Sun's warning echoing:
"Danger, danger, danger!"
As river moves from mountain to ocean
The golden arc across the sky
Soon is only a faint glow on faraway rock
- Yet it will come again
To shout it's harrowing cry
And shrink and shrivel
And round again, again, again
'Til Kingdom come
'Til salvation
'Til death do us unto part
Feb 11, 2015
Feb 11, 2015 at 7:08 PM UTC
In the morning everything become blushing
With splendid light and reflection!
In the afternoon started to be used up
In the evening step towards transitory gloomy!
In the night become woozily and
Dream to blush again in the next morning!
May 25, 2014
May 25, 2014 at 9:42 AM UTC