A gypsy boy
not wanting to be confined
by daily prescriptions
Always jogging on paths
of his own
Still he knows, it’s only
when you stop moving,
you’re called in deeper ways.

Sitting alone in an empty hotel room
Somewhere between nowhere and everywhere
Crying for what he’s seeking
and what he’s leaving behind
Knows he can’t leave his shadow
simply by walking away
Nor find what’s elusive
by chasing illusions

Knows the only way out
is through the pain
Knows that he, like you,
Must take what’s ugly
in his arms and kiss it!

Abandon Hope
The kind that promise
something more
Things will continue
to fall apart and
come together

There is no place to hide
No longer playing
hide and seek with suffering
Then gratitude for today
The gift of the present
Become visible in the now
There form may surprise

See strength in vulnerability
Find tenderness in unknowing
Totally exhausted, now I can
begin to be here in the now
Love never dies
My suffering fades as
I awake to yours
Love never dies

Today, a moment of panic
in the midst of sheltering-in
The soft safety of stillness
gives way to turbulent winds
Emergence Room Doctor mode
frantic, running every which way,
reaching for the prescription pad.
Surely, I could write an answer.

Like a person with a broken car,
thinking everything will be ok
If only, I can repaint the car.
a new exterior, that’s the answer.

Sitting in my monastic cell
A Red Fox scampers along
the fence line
His inner fox and outer fox
scamper in harmony.

The soft safety of knowing, the Red Fox
not wishing for even one hour
to be a ******
Repainting my exterior
will not slow turbulent winds.

In the midst of sheltering-in
The soft safety of stillness
like the Red Fox’s deep knowing
Joins my inner self and
outer self in harmony.

Stepping into my own margins
The edge of my comfort zones
Where light shines in dark corners

Entering a dimly lite pub
Where shaggy bearded men
Sit at round tables
with pints of dark ale
Men who hold very different views
These men tell their own stories
Stories of abuse, achievement,
failure, heroism, and heartbreak
Listening night after night
I can no longer see
them as wrong or even different
These stories are real, complex, confused
and beautiful.
We are all each other’s stories
as much as we are stardust
Bit players in the drama
in the inexhaustible staging of forever.

Your part is fleeting
Each part an essential moment
in the mystery of time

The two greatest
English words
Summer afternoon

Served
in tall glasses
of sweet mint tea

Under pastel
yellow and green
beach umbrellas

Accompanied by
wordless songs
of rhyming surf

Laughing gulls
on currents of air
mirroring contentment

Time drifts easy
healing old bones
scared by harsher days

Worldly concerns
disappear in
sun-bleached sand

Long summer afternoons
ready us for
Life’s winters

Poets feast on words
Words rolling off our tongues
Guarding of languages future
Turn the language coin over
asks yourself, what does
American language breed?
What seeds grow in the dark
corners of these fields?
Gorging on cliches
“You killed it”
“ Guns blazing”
“Battle ground state”
“Target audience”
“ Drop dead gorgeous”

Words as things
to be cared for like:
putting water in
the dog bowl,
opening the door when
someone’s hands are full,
stopping to listen even
while rushing.

Language meditation
Words breathing in and out
What words are worthy
of our breathe?

Planetary fitness
Issues like Covid-19
and global warming
Calling the next generation
To be one choir
Singing,” We Shall Overcome”
Walking together in
solidarity and solitude
Know we all descend
from cosmic stardust
Warped in love
for each other and the earth.