Selected Poems
130731
EDITING BREAKS
Walks are pleasant interludes
that help a writer unwind;
they fill the senses, ease the eyes,
work the body, rest the mind—
unless, of course, a muse intrudes
(an even pleasanter surprise).
130728b
WAYLESS FARER
When young, I sought
the holy thrills:
sacred waters, sacred hills;
incense, candles, chants, and beads;
meditations, sermons, creeds.
The wayless way, though, has no map.
Spiritual trappings can be a trap,
yet, still I seek the holy thrills;
not nine to five,
not paying bills.
130723
MARY CHOSE
Mary was a lily.
She didn’t spin or sew.
Mary chose
the path of heart,
the choicest path she knew.
Mary chose
the highest art;
Mary chose the better part.
130721b
DOING OKAY?
Love your loved ones
before they’re gone.
Often, to look out for
means to look in on.
130721d
DEAR ONE,
Oooooooh—
Yoooooou!
130720a
DAY AND NIGHT DREAMS
Why should magic by day—
coincidences,
serendipities,
delusions—
differ from magic by night?
Are they not both
sleights-of-mind—
illusions?
130720b
HEARTENED
Love
is the treasure,
the storehouse,
the key.
All “open secrets”
it opens to me.
130719
DISCIPLE
Discipline—I surely need it.
But discipline at what?
130715
A NIGHT SO RARE
Coral east, magenta west, and golden hues on high—
seen between these billows, an indigo-washed sky.
These twilight luminosities gradually adjourn
as half-moon and her entourage take the stage in turn.
Starry-silver overhead and firefly-gold below
grace the evening darkness as spring-like breezes blow.
Frogs and crickets serenade with query and reply:
“What’s so rare as a day in June, if not this night in July?”
130713
OFFER AND NON-ACCEPTANCE
Thank you
for the opportunity.
Apparently, I don’t want it.
I’m working on
fear of poverty just now,
and I won’t blunt it.
130712a
THE ULTIMATE DEATH
I must sing my death song,
for nothing may remain
but surrender.
Everything false, everything
unreal, everything off the mark,
must extinguish—no exceptions.
But the world that is judging me—
that is dying too.
130712b
DEAR SELF,
I see that you’re in trouble
(mostly because you think
you’re a special case).
I have remedies
(but even I hope
you can pull this off).
—Your Inner Guide
130710b
IN CONGRUITY
After you’re saved
or enlightened,
there still is more to do,
amounting to the difference
between finding truth
and staying true.
130710d
MIRAGES ALL
We can ONLY love
un-condition-ally,
because, with love,
there is none.
130710f
FULL SPECTRUM
You are like
what you most desire
and what you most despise.
Know this and be wise.
130710h
OPTICAL COLLUSION
I wake and open eyes
to marvel at the sky’s
enchanted view . . .
Some playful trick of mind
has made the white-on-blue
seem suds-on-sea, I find.
Is every pain or bliss
a how-seen trick like this?
130710j
OVERWHELMING RESPONSE
Let me, please, attest:
the thing that you do best
because you make request
of muse or other such—
that very spark or touch
sets up creative flow.
At first, you feel so blessed!
But that’s before you know
the stream has undertow . . .
quite soon it takes you down
and you begin to drown
by being blessed so much.
I affirm that this is so—
because, with poetry, I know.
130708
“BE” ATTITUDE
This tree is meditating
just like me—
well, far better.
How efficient it is:
no wasted energy,
no fighting the wind,
no distress over its
limitations. (I’m guessing
no awareness of any).
It simply takes available
energy and elements
and turns them into tree.
It communes too, answering
my request for advice
by being the way it is.
130704
THAT CLIPPY THING
I couldn’t remember its name, briefly,
although I knew full well how it worked
and what I could use it for.
Even when the word surfaced,
it seemed odd: clothespin.
This one was plastic, not wooden;
maybe that made a difference.
But the difference at which
I really thrilled was this:
appraising a thing nameless, wordless.
I like that feeling.
I hope it sticks with me.
130703
BAND OF MISFITS
Each of us is at odds
with our culture in some way,
each an outsider.
But that’s how we are alike,
how we are united,
how we are one.
130701
FINAL FRONTIER
I want to be
completely free—
meaning,
even free from me.
* * *