Trailing Light

Winter Tree

2011-12-26T07:36:00.000-05:00

Dew Holding the Sky

2011-11-16T09:39:00.000-05:00

Dew

2011-11-16T09:00:00.003-05:00

the morning dewdrop

suspended over my head
holds blue sky within

Rising

2011-10-16T08:54:00.003-04:00

Standing in Stillness

2011-09-30T20:48:00.000-04:00

Coneflower

2011-07-09T07:47:00.000-04:00

Windchimes

2011-05-15T08:51:00.000-04:00

Go Out to the Rainy Woods

2011-05-03T21:14:00.000-04:00

Go out to the rainy woods, leaving
the tired eidolons of the spirit and your
wayward thoughts at home in the warm.
Bring only your camera and notebook,
yourself, if indeed a self you have or are.
Leave that self somewhere among the
earthy wetness and the old trees.

Sit quietly with these drenched leaves,
these birds, that flowing stream and
wait for them to speak or sing in this green
and wordless language that you share.
Know that there are atomies vast and
teeming with life in everything you see.

Return home at the end of the day,
as a leaf yourself, a stone perhaps, a star

First Light

2011-04-09T08:16:00.002-04:00

Rich

2011-04-06T06:55:00.000-04:00

infinitely rich,
this mud and clay, the quiet
earth from which we came

small wonder we drift
like clouds of windblown leaves
longing for return

Snow and Old Wood

2011-02-28T13:27:00.001-05:00

Winter's Eye

2011-02-14T06:40:00.002-05:00

Winter's eye is passionate,
seeks defining shapes and patterns in the snow,
sweep of north wind and frozen river,
smoke curling skyward from farmhouse chimneys,
flowing curve of hoary branch and bend of whitened tree,
the glossy brush of ice and crackling frost.
There's a flash of color here and there,
red of cardinal's wing and berried hawthorn,
lacy green of cedar, soaring blue of spruce,
the burnished gold of sleeping willow,
deep indigo of twilight's lengthening shadow
along the fence in its cloak of white.

Cate

Chrysanthemum Tea

2011-02-13T23:00:00.001-05:00

Winter Evening

2011-02-13T09:26:00.000-05:00

winter moon rising

over the snow drowned garden

rain of frozen leaves

evening falls by four
street lamps go on, one by one —
an owl calls nearby

I see her dimly
feathers close about herself —
familiar in shadows

rest, say her old eyes,
wear night as your own cloak and wait —
the light will rise again.

Cedar and Snow

2010-12-24T09:29:00.002-05:00

Autumn Moon

2010-10-12T18:13:00.002-04:00

Autumn Moon

September Twilight

2010-09-26T06:20:00.001-04:00

September twilight
rain of falling leaves
so much night to come

2010-09-21T09:32:00.000-04:00

Leaf and Bamboo Mat

Bird on a Wire

2010-09-09T08:00:00.002-04:00

Haiku of Life

2010-06-14T15:09:00.001-04:00

through this life we go
here only for seventeen
syllables, three lines

Floating

2010-05-20T09:53:00.001-04:00

Falling Water

2010-05-05T12:07:00.000-04:00

Who Am I

2010-04-09T08:01:00.002-04:00

Who am I to question you? I never
dared before, but it's a sleepless hour
and embraced by the high still light of
morning, questions rise to the surface
unbidden, like the tiny bubbles on a
remote woodland stream, emanations
from a mind that is sometimes very
small and sometimes much afraid.

There are times when shadows are
more real than the objects which cast
them, and this is one of those times.
I've traveled long and wide within this
bewildering country that is myself but
it's a realm I have yet to understand.

And so, I cast these thoughts in offering,
upward to the early moon in her radiance,
the star spangled deeps, the geese in
singing flights back to their slumbering
cornfields, trusting there are no boundaries
between here and not here, that in this
moment, All are a sacred oneness.

Running

2010-03-05T22:35:00.001-05:00

Straight as an arrow, the shaft
of sunlight running from up there to here

or a moonbeam alone, unwitnessed

and demarcating the night

taut, the sound of the bow

drawn back, tensed and waiting

for release, that faint hum and

slight quiver in the breeze

like a bolt out of the blue —

this moment of certainty in the

cold morning, one twanging with
truth and luminous possibility.

Stand on the sun's bright trail

this day and get ready to dance —
to do a little shining
that is all your very own.

By the Frozen River

2010-03-03T15:20:00.001-05:00

between

2010-01-17T07:52:00.002-05:00

between the spoken
and the written, a radiant
stillness blooms

December Budding

2010-01-17T07:50:00.000-05:00

Frost in the Highlands

2009-11-04T12:25:00.002-05:00

A crunching frost last evening in the highlands,
the lambent moon high above the trees,
an embracing darkness and the
aurora borealis dancing over the hill.
November stillness flowing like a shadow
down the trail below the oak trees at twilight.

Winter stirs among these short days,
whispering of cold moons to come,
the rattling dry breath of the long nights,
like these old bones that move creaking
through the brown grass, dead leaves and fallen twigs

Patterns everywhere, and not of my making,
but the Old Wild Mother's weaving,
marbled stones, hoary branches, mottled leaves,
prints of wolf and deer along the trail,
puddles deep in the wooded hollows rimed with ice,
shreds of tattered birch bark blowing free.

There are ghost scents on the wind this evening,
of fresh turned earth and summer fields,
There are echoes of the wild geese going south,
the old rail fence creaking when I leaned on it at dusk in June.
If I listen, I can hear the stream moving away in the gorge.

"Rest now sister," it tells me in its hollow voice.
"Rest you now, for all things turn in time, and we,
like the seasons, must await the time of our tuning."

Greeting the Day

2009-07-27T13:35:00.003-04:00

To Myself and Others

2009-07-27T09:38:00.000-04:00

"Look at me now," I say, "just look and listen".
I have no wisdom to give you, no insights
into your journey, the shapes and colours
of your myriad lives, their twists and their
turns, their themed and glossy fragrance.

Look, here are my hands beseeching you,
cupped, I hold them out like a benediction,
resting within, spring waters and fragments
of the clearest summer skies at sunrise,
blue as a starling's egg and mole dappled,

tiny ripples and perfect reflections all rounded
in a wooded blessing of the finest kind.
Drink from these hands, and be content,
oh friend, let us travel on together starting
here and now, light of heart and singing as
the birds sing, branch to branch at dawn.

Part of Summer's Song Remaining

2009-07-23T08:42:00.000-04:00

Early Walkers

2009-06-26T08:43:00.000-04:00

At dawn, a frail moon waning up there
somewhere in the unseen blue, blesses
a perfect summer day that will surely
never come again to sing, and slow

walkers in the early fog, we go together
paw and paw through summer yieldings
of sweet purple clover and rhyming
cricket, of humming bee and dancing leaf

while all around us, unseen but deeply
felt and loved, the world is breathing
in and out, our three voices falling
into seamless light and tune and time.

(Me)

Evening Stillness

2009-05-18T09:56:00.004-04:00

evening stillness—
the waning light held captive
high in guardian trees

the shallow leaf-rimed pool
reflects my withered face as
I splash booted homeward

above my silvered head—
robins in the smoky dusk
are trilling for rain

Shadow/Fastener

2009-05-18T09:53:00.001-04:00

For the Earth

2009-04-27T08:55:00.002-04:00

turning my compost,

the friable matter crumbles like

manna on my spade

working the dark earth,
a fertile fragrance drifts upward,
essence of springtime

infinitely rich, this

mud and clay and quiet earth

out of which we came

small wonder
we drift like windborne catkins
longing for return

this April morning
among the daisies and the sage —
I plant myself too

Haiku - Color(ful)

2009-02-23T08:19:00.001-05:00

bare maples

receding snows cupping

spring's first rosy buds

weeping willows
turning lacy yellow as they
sway above my head

what a rich purple
lies under sleeping hedgerows
by the garden gate

late winter's song —

its longing for light sparks
red and gold and blue

On Night's Windy Fringes

2008-12-03T18:12:00.000-05:00

October Moon and Sumac

2008-10-15T08:06:00.001-04:00

Angel's Trumpet (Datura)

2008-08-23T08:38:00.000-04:00

One Single Impression - Rest

2008-07-22T08:25:00.008-04:00

(For Cassie)

For the sheer joy of it, your tail wagged,
and your magnificent nose was raised to
the scented air, your footfall blithe along
the trail, your wise eyes lifted to the birds,
the clouds above, the dancing stars.

Once (a very long time ago), you
showed me how to live in this world,
how to love it and taste its grandeur.
Now as you move clear eyed and firm
of step toward your final resting place,
I am learning a little how to die.

Written for the incandescent spirits at One Single Impression. A special note here, my darling Cassie is dying, and it hurts more than I can ever say or sing or write. These words emerged fully formed as I sat holding her in my arms a day or two ago.

Morning

2008-07-21T10:26:00.001-04:00

Water Window

2008-07-10T08:14:00.002-04:00

on hot still days in bright July,
I haunt these quiet flowing rivers,
their heron spiced shallows

deep shady pools like liquid glass,
darkened windows where trout
suspend and finning slowly dream

dawn, deer and wild turkeys drinking
pause, peering down and through,
and water serpents drowse at noon

sundown light and little frogs singing,
then the moon comes up like a
porcelain bowl adrift in a starry sea

2008-07-09T18:52:00.000-04:00

All in the Patient Wanderer's Eye

2008-06-18T10:08:00.005-04:00

all in the patient wanderer's eye,
these jester hat shapes of delicate columbines
unfurling, the lofty towers of rosy lupins
and crinkled poppies in the hedge at dawn,
cherry trees blooming overhead like confetti,
intensely purple violets in the grass.

between one sunrise moment and the next,
we stand here, she and I, looking upward
at these endless blue skies of infinite possibility,
these dancing spinneys of gently waving trees,
breathing in and out together, we go paw
and paw along - this is all there is.

Wind Horses

2008-06-17T08:25:00.000-04:00

Sundown

2008-03-25T12:23:00.002-04:00

Haiku - Change

2008-03-03T22:05:00.001-05:00

windy night
uptown traffic lights changing
one by one

red, amber green
along the street they're turning
of their own accord

Written for the beauteous Andrée and Sandy at One Single Impression

Icicles and Branches

2008-03-02T19:52:00.000-05:00

Snowy Cap

2008-02-27T07:45:00.002-05:00

Rising Sun

2008-02-11T19:06:00.001-05:00

Haiku - Dusk

2008-02-09T07:31:00.001-05:00

dusk in February
through my darkening window
comes the sound of snow

Winter Milkweed Study

2008-02-06T07:57:00.001-05:00

Descending

2008-02-02T08:52:00.001-05:00

Shadows

2008-01-26T07:04:00.001-05:00

Saturday morning and the shadows
go on forever across the snowy hills
like footsore troopers in column of route
intent on reaching their faraway homes

somewhere in the high wind a single
pine cone is trying to dance its way
free and come to earth again, no
make that snow - just snow again

snow is all there is here now, just
this blue snow and bone deep cold,
one elderly female out in the wind,
holding her camera and dreaming of spring

January Morning

2008-01-24T06:05:00.000-05:00

One Deep Breath - A Kind of Beauty

2007-12-20T07:17:00.000-05:00

bare apple trees
under their blanket of snow
dreaming of spring

branch to frozen branch
scarlet cardinals cavorting
one two three

red higher still
one withered apple all alone
is dancing in the wind

Written for One Deep Breath

The Land of Winter

2007-12-16T17:40:00.001-05:00

Leaves and Snow

2007-12-02T19:43:00.000-05:00

Twilight

2007-11-29T11:00:00.000-05:00

early winter dusk

rustling draperies being drawn

against the shadows

fireplaces alight

their fragrant smoke going

straight up and away

in every doorway
gusts of wind crave an entrance
iron cold without

beyond my windows
yellow street lamps turning on
one by glowing one

One Deep Breath - Skipping Stones

2007-10-03T17:11:00.000-04:00

skipping stones
my grandson is counting them
one, two, three

smooth and cool
each flight describes a perfect arc
rising and falling

Written for the blithe spirits at One Deep Breath

Blowing Away

2007-10-03T17:02:00.001-04:00

Beyond

2007-08-23T07:42:00.000-04:00

Beyond that next turning of the canyon walls,
a single weathered oak, its leaves turning
honeyed russet, makes a dry and rustling
music against the fissured granite.

It sings of seasons turning round and round,
of harvest and putting things by for the
long darkness ahead, the perfect round
nights lying like stones in the gloaming road.

What flaming sunsets still to come, what
radiant stars and round moons await
on autumn nights, pouring their blessing
light on earth below and smiling.

The first line is taken from Edward Abbey's magnificent Benedicto.

On the Hill

2007-08-21T18:05:00.000-04:00

One Deep Breath - Comfort

2007-07-25T13:29:00.000-04:00

here, restful shade,

there, old stones in the stream

enfolded in slow ripples

above, dancing leaves,
and wind like a slow caress,
below, the quiet earth

stillness and sweet

comfort not indoors, but under

this leaning tree

Written for the ever comforting spirits at One Deep Breath and particularly to Jennifer who recently lost her father to cancer. Jennifer, my thoughts are with you.

Flowing

2007-07-23T22:13:00.000-04:00

One Deep Breath - Shadows and Light

2007-07-06T07:04:00.000-04:00

summer storm coming in,
clouds piling against the sun
tang of ozone

across the blowing field
darkness, great shadows flowing
like eagles' wings

Written for the bright spirits at One Deep Breath

One Deep Breath - Creepy Crawly

2007-06-27T14:06:00.000-04:00

below summer's leaf

the caterpillar spinning

its jeweled chrysalis

no more creeping!

it dreams of transformation

flying high and free

Monarch

2007-06-27T05:04:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday - One Deep Breath

2007-06-13T16:14:00.000-04:00

a whole haiku year

seventeen dancing syllables

in three burnished lines

each and every week

the haiku fluttering like leaves—

(mine very bad)

light paper lanterns

recite aloud, give thanks

for One Deep Breath

Dragonfly

2007-06-11T15:42:00.001-04:00

One Deep Breath - Architecture

2007-06-06T09:30:00.000-04:00

frilly pagodas,

blooming like ornate towers,

they rise up and out

many chambers,

walls and connecting doorways

in each heart a star

perfect meeting of

form and garden function,

organic wedding

(columbines)

Written for the blithe spirits at One Deep Breath

Columbine

2007-06-04T19:02:00.000-04:00

Squirrel in the Garden

2007-05-25T20:20:00.000-04:00

One Deep Breath - Viewpoint

2007-05-24T08:23:00.000-04:00

leafy sunrise,

skirling crows on the roofline

gabbling amazement

full throated nearby,

cardinals in the hedgerow make

waterfall music

Looking up, up, up

through the sunlit canopy

I sing wonder too

Written for the blithe spirits at One Deep Breath

Eastern Cottontail at Sunrise

2007-05-22T09:25:00.000-04:00

One Deep Breath - Nurture

2007-05-15T09:40:00.000-04:00

here a cloud,

there a patch of tilled earth,

hidden seeds below

send down roots

like toes in the good dark ground,

uncurling them slowly

send up shoots and leaves,

feeling the wind across your skin,

sun and warmth await

rainfall like manna

sends a fragrant signal—

arise and verdant be

Written for the nurturing spirits at One Deep Breath

White Trillium

2007-05-14T23:07:00.000-04:00

One Deep Breath - Sleep

2007-05-08T09:38:00.000-04:00

I turn in sleeping

dream walks in shaggy springtime

barefoot in the grass

it's a fragrant sleep

holding visions of trees and birds

limpid light rising free

old waning moon—

she floats over sleeping fields

riding a clear blue sky

Written for the vibrant keepers of the creative flame at One Deep Breath

Wake Robin

2007-05-06T21:13:00.000-04:00

One Deep Breath - Inland Sea

2007-05-03T07:32:00.000-04:00

those old mountains
towering over an inland sea
this wild knowing

perfect sunsets
flaming along the shoreline
woodsmoke and jack pine

ancient mother lake
she flows easy in my veins —
calling me home

(for Lake Superior's wild and northern shore)

Written for the effortlessly flowing spirits who tend the creative waters at One Deep Breath. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Willow

2007-04-23T11:41:00.000-04:00

One Deep Breath - Energy

2007-04-19T08:34:00.000-04:00

evening stillness—

the waning light held captive
high in warden trees

a leaf-rimed pool

reflects my weathered face as

I splash booted through

above my head—

robins in the smoky dusk

are trilling for rain

watchful below,
a cottontail comes out to feed
from the inky shadows

spirited these feet
moving quietly through the park

homeward at nightfall

Written with thanks for the blithe spirits at One Deep Breath

Reflection

2007-04-16T17:28:00.000-04:00

One Deep Breath - Songs in Spring

2007-04-02T20:26:00.001-04:00

seagulls before rain

fill the air with plangent cries

best in April

tilting his head

the robin in my garden hears

a worm far below

geese against the moon

sing their return in chorus

many wings as one

Written for the incandescent spirits at One Deep Breath

By the Pond

2007-04-02T20:23:00.000-04:00

Haiku - Breathing

2007-03-20T08:09:00.000-04:00

soft morning cloud,

great trees breathing in and out

together

their exhalation

rising, a benediction

on me standing here

Written for the blithe spirits at One Deep Breath

Tattered Leaf

2007-03-19T20:49:00.000-04:00

One Deep Breath - Earth

2007-03-08T09:27:00.000-05:00

cold white silence

under clouds of snow

earth lies sleeping

an ancient nurse

she guards seeds and acorns

in her keeping

she dreams

greening, song and sunlight

slow awakening

Written for the blithe spirits at One Deep Breath

Little Owl in Tree

2007-03-04T21:21:00.000-05:00

Poetry Thursday - Shhhhhhh

2007-03-01T21:35:00.000-05:00

I can hear them this morning,
inhalations of majestic maples

breathing in unison along the ridge,

taking into themselves the arctic air,

and gifting back pure oxygen in every
patient exhalation and gesture.

I touch their furrowed bark and
the sweet sticky essence flows cold
through my fingers, much as it will when
gracing our breakfast waffles with its
presence just a few days hence.
Oh fragrant beauty, oh sweet ambrosia,
Oh precious harbinger of spring and light.

Breathing Trees

2007-02-28T22:19:00.000-05:00

Last Year's Leaves Aloft

2007-02-25T17:41:00.000-05:00

Fibonacci Sequence - Hot Stuff

2007-02-20T10:08:00.000-05:00

brown

rice

hot peppers

fiery on my tongue

a cantrip invoking summer

(jambalaya)

Written for the bright spirits at One Deep Breath

Ice on the Edge

2007-02-19T07:31:00.000-05:00

Haiku - Shelter

2007-02-13T09:48:00.000-05:00

a fierce evening wind
and my lighted doorway
beckons from afar

icicles chime
below the dark rooflines
guiding me onward

every streetlamp
a honeyed beacon
in winter darkness

how slow the journey
this coming home to myself
from places faraway

the round moon beaming
there in the window
wears my weary face

Written for the Susan and Jennifer, the blithe spirits who tend the creative flame at One Deep Breath

Snowy Needles

2007-02-12T18:29:00.000-05:00

Down Through Icy Trees

2007-02-04T22:19:00.000-05:00

Haiku - Roots/Connection

2007-01-29T10:39:00.000-05:00

acorns sleeping
under their blanket of snow
they turn and dream

sitting above them
on this rock in sunlight
I turn and dream too

we are together
dreaming of springtime
here among the stones

Written this fine cold morning for the blithe spirits at One Deep Breath

White Garden Dreaming

2007-01-27T09:23:00.000-05:00

Why I Love Poetry

2007-01-25T11:56:00.000-05:00

There are times in modern life when one needs to get away, far, far away, and there can be no distant oasis or lofty aerie more rejuvenating, no finer companions, than a good book of poetry, a large mug of tea and a Morris chair.

Poems are the landscape of spirit rendered in both sound and silence, and they exercise their own discrete magic and power. They possess in abundance admirable qualities sadly lacking in our day to day existence: qualities of rigour, cadence, elegance, form, simplicity, and from time to time, incandescent beauty. They are glorious adventures: journeys along winding paths, safaris to lost and exotic cities, camel caravans bound for Persian markets or faraway mountain villages. When I read a poem, I can hear the lapping of waves on the shore, the rustle of the wind in the trees, the songs of birds at sunrise and the tolling of faraway bells. I can leave the world behind and take wing.

Poems are exquisite when we experience them in their entirety, and there are even greater revelations to be experienced when we begin to look closely at their elements, at individual letters and syllables, words and even the spaces between the words. All are little works of art or theater, tiny plays or leitmotifs which are descriptive of a feeling or perception, a physical sensation, an encounter with other beings or existence itself. Say the word "rose" aloud or read it in a poem by Dylan Thomas, Rainer Maria Rilke or Pablo Neruda (among others), and one conjures up a remembered bloom and experiences everything about it all over again: its shape, its silky texture, its vibrant color, and its exquisite fragrance.

Every poem is a moment of kensho, a memory, a microcosm, an entire world or history complete within itself, and it is also a cantrip, something the ancient bards and mages understood very well. In writing a poem or reading one, we evoke the true name or fundamental nature of something. To do that at the right time and in the right place is to summon magic and power from a realm beyond the fields we know.

I am seldom "more in the moment" than when I am reading poetry or crafting a poem myself. About the quality of the poems being written, we shall say nothing.