Open Window

Summer-like open window
Distant hammers, distant highway:
Memories from an old photo album

Untitled

Sometimes confusion or an unarmed feeling 
explodes, 
lit by words bursting 
into meanings previously hidden in darkness and silence.

Rejoice: 
a part of your brain has 
new synopses 
shaping your 
Mind.

Bardo

Bardo
In some schools of Buddhism, bardo … is an intermediate, transitional, or liminal state between death and rebirth. – https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardo 

The sun angles wrong on my eyelids;
I resist waking in this strange place.

I feel my father’s room;
The plants gone, the walls striped
Of the photos of the many people he loved,
The chairs and chest huddled together,
The bed barren, the lounge chair empty,

His life in boxes 
To be removed.

Blessings, 2019

Blessing
We live
In all our messy glory;
Trapped in time,
Suspended in place.

Waiting
For the next stage,
The next hope,
The answer that eludes us.

Hold out your hands.
Cup them together
To receive this grace:
You are already holy.


Another Blessing
Stand where you are,
Reach out your arms, 
Throw back your head,
Open your mouth.

Listen:
There is silence under.
Open your eyes:
Light bleeds into the dark.

Do not forget this moment.


The Third Blessing
There is no time solitary
Or gathered together
Where you are absent
Or alone.

Breathe,
Grasp,
Release,
Bow down.

Reach out,
Pull in,
Let go,
Rest.

Winter Comes Soon

She knows winter
comes soon
but 
summer sings now.

Her dancing 
has slowed;
she’s never 
had a song before.

Now, she has little left.
Silence,
and slowly,
arms raised, she twirls.

Searchers Waiting

Pale birds, hopping, fluttering, flying –
Outside the window. 

Inside,
People approach,
Hands together, bow –
Scarlet- robed Holy ones sit, nod.

One scarlet and gold draped chair
Waits. 
The thangka paintings
Surround
The seated searchers. 

Hashtag #spoileralert

Hashtag: #spoileralert
– After reading poems by Emily Dickinson, and Tweets on Twitter

My future hides before me;
The ending pre-ordained.
The losses will continue
But bright joys may remain.

My feet will grow more tender;
My knees and hips more lame.
I may remember much;
I may forget my name.

The ending could be sudden,
Or agonies, – and slow. 
But life that waits before me
Holds time and love and hope.