Being Still for 20 Minutes

just trees and sky

nothing else to see here

everything else to imagine

if we let it happen

At the End of May

we walk among sentient beings

with respect for the coming-of-age

—may apple, sweet cicely, cleavers, blue cohosh, northern white violet

Pelagic

we drove to the beach in a long low convertible with wide fins

past flat-roofed houses the colors of shells fading in the sun

and swam alone on a peninsula of white sand

it felt real

turquoise waves rolled in from the point much like this world

i swam without tiring the swells lifting me i was of the sea

i knew the water its currents and tides its depths and its distances

you called me fish

Passing Showers

American chestnut

tell me again how i entered your dream

as clouds unravel to rain

sweet repetition

tell me again how it ran down my back

your voice is a song in the thunder

sweet sweet repetition

everything lovely passes away

tell me again and again

sweet sweet repetition

Meditation

i went to the woods in the rain

to be alone with my own soul

and i met her there in a candle flame

young leaves shook in the rain

everything shining and dripping

and the trees were in deep meditation

i lit a candle to honor the rain

thunder crossed a long plank bridge

and there in the glass the flame doubled

Apparition

first iris

you have but a few days

i heard the jays call

so i went to the center

and i waited for years

'til the soul of the forest appeared

green fire at her core

and showed me the way

and left me to yearn

for but a few days more

Space Traveler

From day to night and back again

i traveled through the orbit of the moon

indigo to flame and back again

immersed myself in endless space

from head to toe and back again

returned to solitude but not alone

for i have dreamed my way to eden and come back again 

and now i will my heart to waiting like a stone

Some Days You Know

cool under cloud

hot in the sun

some days you know

just where to look

for what you love most

columbine on the bank

family in the yard

that smile that is

cloud and sun to you

and everything else

in its proper place

in paradise

Botany

you should click

meant to be

the fern unfurls

a bit more

as we pass

imperceptibly

but undeniably

without ethics

or philosophy

and so do we

Beautiful

standing in the dark at the pond's edge

the day's warm rain an echo in the drain

the hylas wild for creation

and the toads dreaming in the marsh

i am the only man on the earth

solitary and stunned by the beauty of the night

the night is beautiful and i say so because she is

i am a poet and i tell the night she's beautiful and she is

the thousand-noted dark blue night with mars in her hair

so beautiful i say aloud because i am a poet

and she is beautiul and i am the only man on the earth

and i must