In the end
the moment of change
is imperceptible.
Our invisible
everything
radiates,
and while I’ve been waiting
for the rain, anticipating
the return of the creek’s fine running
now it’s here I wish…
The praying mantis stood up
and waved his thin front leg, searching for a foothold,
looking for a way out of this mess.
Why didn't I hug you harder,
visit more, stay longer,
let my hand linger in yours?
Why didn’t we sit side by side
every chance we had?
You come here listening
for you don’t know what,
as if you lost something,
as if here you’ll see the answer
riding in on the waves…
Sailing ahead down the tar-sealed road,
a shadow, wide-winged and languid.
Seagull and sun behind me
pull like a kite on invisible string.
To be spring again,
arriving in a world
wet, green and electric…
My son points out that my skin looks old,
that it’s made of tiny triangles.
It’s not criticism,
not compliment,
said with an air of almost-worry…
So it comes away in layers,
flakes and falls like bark.
Not the single slice you hoped for,
not that clean cut you wanted…
It’s not too late
to go to wild places,
alone,
and unafraid…
There are places where thoughts cannot go,
places your mind will not take you.
Like a road that stops at the foot of a hill
or falls short in the deep of a valley…
There is more here than can be grasped in two hands,
a world too large to throw our arms around…
To see clouds, you have to look up.
You have to take your eyes off your feet
and stop, or risk falling.
If I must travel,
let me feel every footstep.
Let me know myself
as part of that through which I pass.
In the valley a deer is roaring
too late in the morning to not be seen.
Without thinking
I press my finger to my lips…
The sunrise fills a valley the way I teach my children
to sweep, reaching out as far as you can
We are each the fine end point
of not just one but many lines,
not just two, but four, eight,
sixteen, thirty-two ply and more…
Unhitch yourself from the wagon
that goes only one way
knows only one route
travels the same rutted path
it always has,
Where are your wilds?
What have you tamed
and let others tame in you?