"broadleaf" poems
#(a travelogue)
He stared down through
the unbroken silence
lapping the shoreline
Water skippers dart around
the rocks and windfall driftwood
settled juxtaposed in cattail reeds
and emerging broadleaf sprouts
A petrified heartwood timber
lie fallow waiting bare barked,
hushed like a pining lover’s
timeworn love seat,
rubbed smooth as
the crystalline waters
of half-moon lake
Lingering for a while ―
like a hidden stalker,
a perched wildcat waiting
for the full moon’s
swooning spell to saturate
the thickening dusk quietude;
arousing the urgent
call of the wild —
exhaled from the held breath
of the wilderness nocturne
on half-moon lake
The stillness was scattered
with the soft downy hairs
of the sleeping cattails, and
the newly shed catkins
a spring gust bestrewed
from a tall resin birch tree
nigh the Sitka willows
He sat quietly ...
time out of mind ―
tossing his eyes up into the sky;
taking the time to read the stars ―
catching them each again
as they fell into his gentle hands,
to show him who he was
Seeing their sparkly tracers
trail-out above the cattails,
from a distance
they resembled falling stars
unable to perceive their own renaissance ―
plashing lightly upon the still-water
on half-moon lake
A lone shadow glides stealthily
near mid-tarn,.. swimming
enchantingly with the grace
of a blackswan
Appearing to glance shoreward
at the glowing low stars
rise and fall, as his eyes
twinkled skyward over
the moonlit lagoon ―
heavenward of its moonlit ballet;
the lone sleek dark shadow
slipping through
a faint circular ripple
stirring the smooth as glass waters ―
disappearing like a fleeting moment
waning deep aneath
a subtle silent wake.
When all the clear lines blurred,
he knew it had been so long ...
but hearken !
… an interceding
long drawn out wail
echoed a feral ache
across the stillness,
breaking the silence ―
as the shadow reappeared;
his tears surrendered
to the undulating call of the wild;
he felt the spirit of the sole Loon,
as black and white
as the moonlit night,
stir deeply in his wanting heart ―
lay bare the silence
in lengthy yodeled psalms
to the god of the moon
Diving down deep yet again,
keeping the light he’d been given,
vanishing into the lifespring
sanctuary of half-moon lake
harlon rivers ... May 2018
travelogue: 4 of some more
May 21, 2018
May 21, 2018 at 2:36 PM UTC
The caterpillars preach their sermons,
Crickets string their choirs,
Under the shade of Broadleaf.
Beetles teach their classes,
The sunlight shines through the foliage,
In the morning at Broadleaf.
The leaves are green,
The airport of insects is blue,
A canopy above Broadleaf.
Jan 16, 2016
Jan 16, 2016 at 12:37 AM UTC
He’s shaved like a survivor of something
And this is the first time I’ve realized, his
Head normally baubled under a dark cap
His arms spindle, bark bent at shoulder and elbow
The leaf of his hands shiver around a 6B
I watch him become a Broadleaf before my eyes
He stretches long around the room
Determined to crowd every corner
Trundling, truncated at root
I wish to be as I see him
A beautiful tangle, loud in motion and
Silent in speech, sprinting full speed
His feet pound in dirt,
Name sprawled on the walls in capital BLACK
Demanding to be heard or at least recognized
He is the mystery of the day, every day
The jumbled stranger, in pieces strewn
& unsolved
--
c
Mar 25, 2019
Mar 25, 2019 at 4:50 PM UTC
prejudiced both against each other and , see
a red squirrel or fox the same, as a conveyer, of seeds.
The pine tree, or cedar, just as me, grows acidic
green year round, day and night, commenting little as
possible striving to get the sun and water,
not judging the broadleaf nor the four leaf clovers,
just rising above the reaches of it all.
Flora vs. Fauna,
aura in clorophyll, or flesh
the squirrels don't care what species,
color, race , gender, or whether you
like hims or hers,
just put in their pouch whatever, stand on back legs,
laughingly adorable, going their way.
Jul 8, 2015
Jul 8, 2015 at 10:03 PM UTC
Like water
A weeping willow swaying in the wind
The reeds waving to the cosmos
I am a fable breaking the fourth wall
Look through my window
and sing it with me
You are telling lies so I can promise you nothing and
You are slithering through the cracks in my mind and
Now I am flying
through the cracks
of your words
See me moving
to the rhythm of my heart
I am dancing
to the pulsations
of the distant stars
Flowing up and out
like the nectar from a honeysuckle
Honey and milk pouring from my throat
Sip the dew from the Broadleaf sage
and breathe in its hearty breath
There are diamonds
glistening from the pine trees
and quartz crystals
dripping from the sky and
These pine cones
are red roses
These nettles
they are black feathers
fanning white clouds
and this lake here is your soul
with your eyes in its reflection
and the ripples on its surface
undulate in loving breath
with the universe
Sep 15, 2015
Sep 15, 2015 at 1:42 PM UTC