Three days
Can be a lifetime
So they say

Three days
To burst forth from the deep,
Find a mate and die

Three days from death ‘til resurrection
We live in different worlds
Still, the pond holds your reflection

Low clouds scurry overhead
Dividing heaven and earth
The living and the dead

Cool mourning mist
licked my cheeks
I hadn’t cried in weeks

Now a new era erupts
Time measured out in coffee cups

Change, in my pocket
Already spent
Some unseen veil is rent

Sitting here in shade
Plans best laid  
Mice and men unmade

One morning’s walk there she was
A coral orange flower
Engaged in a staring contest with the sun
******* up the sap
Of the rushing water at her feet
Exulting with the orgiastic rapids
A shameless harlot
Flaunting her perfection

I plucked her

Held her in my hand
Walked quickly back the short way home

All was well
I was in control
Towering over her small frame
I would trim her stem
Install her on a throne of crystal
Satisfy her wants and needs
Show off my new possession

But the ***** betrayed me
She had tricks I never knew
Ways to show me
I was not the master

I looked down to see her
Dead in those few minutes
But with a smile on her face

The pasture steams with dusky fog
The poet dreams of his dead dog
The fall of day the rise of night
The people pray that wrong be right

Tiptoe cross the dampened leaves
Listen for nocturnal life
Soak it up and soak it in
Silence is the only sin

Hear the drip and hear the drop
Frost has come and now the rot
Kingfisher sings crazy song
The people pray that right be wrong

Looking over lily pads
Green floats over slate grey sky
Dragon climbs out the lake
Now is time to do or die

Sometimes
When the noise dies down
I can hear
God's own sound

Sometimes
When the daylight fades
I can see
The fairy shades

Sometimes
When there's not too much
I can feel
Your sweet touch
On the hymn of my garment.

A rat snake hangs around my house
Over six feet long
He knows the place is his, not mine
Spoils don’t go to the strong


So elegant he slides about
Never says a word
Unlike the one in Eden
That made man his lord

Pays me no attention
Knows I mean no harm
His sense of sensibility
A true snake charmer’s charm

No awkward lunging steps for him
On our bipedal knees
A thousand joints along his spine
Let him move as he please

Never in a hurry
Seeking out the sun
What’s the point of worry
The day will soon be done

I told my friend about him
He asked to come and hold
I said when I see him
You'll be the first who's told

He slithered cross my path today.
Recalling what I said,
I asked the snake what he would say
Then to my friend …I lied

A rising tide of pink blush
Climbs the bedroom wall
Pries sleepyhead from his bed
With its siren call

This old man stumbles down
To watch the world awake
Sun tells the truth, but tells aslant
Across a foggy lake

I’ve spent my years and spilled my tears
Doing what I was supposed
Now time has come and time is done
And what has my life showed

One last chance to dance the dance
To do something worthwhile
To leave a mark so angels hark
To truly make God smile

But how to choose before I lose
When so much is at stake
All I can think is take a drink
And sit and watch the lake

It screams aloud that God is proud
What use meek little me?
God can’t prance without audience
He needs someone to see

Augustine said:  “Do what you will”
That is the crux of love
And so I sit in awe of it-
Creation’s treasure trove

I am not by conscience bound
I reap but never sow
No higher purpose can be found
Than to enjoy the show

You can live three weeks without food
Three days without water
Three minutes without oxygen

Which death takes longer?
There is a simple test
Hold your breath.

Sitting on the porch
Oppressed by atmosphere.
Perspiration’s touch
Movement costs too much

Find the shade
Drink in sips
Kool Aid
Stains her lips

Setting sun
Slips underneath
The shadow trees
Turns riotous green to gold

Darkness steals
In from the East
Teasing of relief

Bumbling bees
Deflower as they feast
Such power
In the ***** of the beast

I woke again with your scent on my skin
And lay there wanting
Nothing to change

No shower yet
Just coffee and cream
And the dogs on the deck

And that perfect stillness
The angled sun
The quiet of the woods

The color of the trees
The smell of the leaves rotting on the ground
And mushrooms and you

The bright blue sky
With one little cloud
The silence deafens my soul out loud

Keys to the kingdom
Rusting on the chain
Unsolicited advice
Unrelenting pain

A million monkeys typing tails
Written but unread
Until they chance upon the one
That means just what it said

Abstract art and abstract alms
Turning stone to bread
Peonies piercing palms
Until the flowers bled

Bled upon the canvas white
Smeared red with his blood
Santa Claus looked such a fright
Caught eating Daddy’s food

Beauty lies in in between
Inside a cavern dark
Truth is beauty oft unseen
A dog without a bark

Rhyming couplets copulate
Keeping perfect thyme
Synchronously syncopate
Commit the perfect crime

In the dark the eyes best see
When looking indirect
Poems write their poetry
When poets don’t reflect

Let hands loose upon the keys
Like ants upon the hill
Let loose fingers lose your mind
To write some swine loved swill

Who knows what the world may think
Of this unfettered phrase
You may be the missing link
To some new-fangled faze
Of something some call poetry
In its declining days

The daffodil cried out to me
Look until it hurts!
Your little eyes such foolish spies
Shall quickly feel my quirts

You never saw such sight as me
And never shall again
Beauty such as mine you see
Was not made for man

This sight you sought is dearly bought
Even though most wondrous
Those thus caught must be taught
Become my Erymanthus

Erymanthus was blinded by the goddess Aphrodite when he saw her bathing naked after she had made love to Adonis.

When times are good and there is rain
She leafs full tilt
Disdaining dread of drought

Betting on the come of future rains
A luscious jungle of gorgeous green
Swirling overhead

But there are no guarantees
If day follows day with only summer heat and sun
All born cannot survive

A choice must be made
Terrible triage
Children sacrificed for parent’s sake

She tourniquets her limbs
Newborn leaves scream, wither
Yellow, dry and drop to the ground
To feed the mother in another year

There are days I feel like them
My own head hanging low
Life’s blood slowly ****** aside
But even then I know

Soon the sun will shift away
Returning precious shade
Mists of midnight’s cooling fog
Coming to our aid

All written because someone died
Or feared the empty hole
Nothingness personified
Talk of heart and soul

Foolish patter in the wind
Whistling in the dark
Yet when we reach that bitter end
Bite is far worse than bark

A subject one cannot ignore
An object lesson learned
“Not yet!” the anguished do implore
Dispensation spurned

A thousand lines to heal the hurt
A thousand doubts remain
The quick remain to feel the quirt
Cling to the old refrain

Faith has brought me safe thus far
Faith will lead me home
But is the answer truly found
In any ancient tome?

Poetry to soothe the sting
Syrupy as molasses
Sweet bye and bye of which we sing
****** of the masses?

Job was poetry they say
As was much of the Bible
When darkness falls we seek a way
A fable or a foible?

Job perhaps has said it best
Explained it all by half
The reason for the final test
Is God’s hilarious laugh

Take this paper written on
Use it to light the fire
Pile the many others on
Make all death poems’ pyre.

First thing every morning
On these cold, dark days
Amidst the bare branches
Above the fallen leaves

They bring something wondrous
I’m not sure how to name it
But I know it like my breath

Seeing them there
Little bits of heat
Hearts beating wildly
Warms mine as well

Emily said it best
Hope’s a thing with feathers

One foot slow
Then another
Held in air
Settling soft on leaf litter

A sudden freeze
Stock still
Seconds pass like hours
Eyes, ears, legs
locked in tense suspense

trip wire
pin pulled
dog explodes
furious fur
toward the waiting squirrel

Deciding now which way they should go
To and fro

Hiding in this green protective world
Nature unfurled

Lining up dead limbs to mark the way
Nothing to say

Fallen tree blocks the old way through
As though he knew

Trimming trails no one will ever see
No one but me

I’m at the cash register
Picking up a to go order
Making small talk with the hostess
Suddenly I hear your voice
Close enough to touch

You had to hear me but you do not turn
I look at you not looking at me
I make the leap

“Hi. Good to see you. Meet my friend.
Hope you are doing well. Take care.”
What goes unsaid says far too much.

You the independent one
Wanting someone only to enhance you
Needing no one to complete you

Me, with my holes to fill
Fill with someone like me,
Someone who needs me just as much

I pay the price, take the food, walk away
Unsteady on this new ground
Born in the earthquake of our meeting again


Each morning commute  
Every black car met
Makes false promises of your return

No sacrilege is love
That dies but yet remains
To nurture what’s to come

Tumultuous sky
Greys and blacks
Darkness from the north  

Wind so loud
You cannot hear
Waves crashing to the shore

Though trees bow down
You raise your arms
Face into the gale

Like some new Moses
Fleeing Pharaoh
Faith overcoming fear

Singing some soft Sufi song
Becoming feathered one
Rider of the Wind

You asked me what’s my minimum.
The least I can survive
The fast to which my self must come
So that our love can live
Love’s math is not zero sum
I get more than I give.

The answer to your question is
My minimum must hang
In the place called paradox
Where yin turns into yang

Where minimum and maximum
Are two words for the same
Where one grows small so one grows all
To wax the one must wane

Where waning is no sacrifice
Because these two are one
And my retreat does you entice
To be all that you can

I try to hold my love inside
No talk no taste no touch
I try to give you room to ride
Out from my love’s too much

So please remember every time
You wish you had a note
You’d be rich with just one dime
For each one that I wrote

For each one written in my mind
Or printed on a page
But never seen, so love stayed blind
And gave your life its stage

To give you room to live your life
To let your hawk’s heart soar
Your heart needs space to make love rife
My heart knows less is more

All white beneath, all blue above
All crystal in between
Where blackened spires reach ever higher
Entombed in frozen tears
Holding tight with all its might
Ice clasps every limb

Too soon the sun shows his fierce face
Now each tree flames afire
A narcissus and Icarus
Their beauty brighter, higher!
But beauty’s price is sacrifice
Tis come the judgement hour

The fairy world the storm unfurled
Now meets its moist demise
A southern breeze stirs tops of trees
Stand still - you’ll hear the cries
Losing their cold they lose their hold
Letting loose with sighs

Their tinkling sound heard all around
Sharp shards of broken glass
Each limb and branch an avalanche
To forest floor below
Comes crashing down from oaken crown
To kiss the melting snow

A traitor’s kiss
A child’s return
A fighter’s fist
Ecstasy’s burn

None of these
Can claim the prize
Each knee shall bow
That all might rise

You were a rough and tumble love
And I so want that kind
The honest real encounter
Not the love that’s blind

The love that sees and seizes
Savors ***** and screams
Howls of joy and sorrow
Pleasure mixed with pain

A love as real as rabbit
A love as deep as mirrors
Reflecting all infinity
Laughing at the terrors

At first it was delightful
Your water was my home
You buoyed me up and held me
We each begged each to come

We zipped it down, we looped the loop
We never left the house
We played what if, we played why not
We talked of being spouse

But as it grew more serious
The stakes began to rise
And I could not leave easily
I'd looked into your eyes

I was *** committed
I was in for all
It was far too late to jump
Far too far to fall

We swam in your water’s depths
Farther from the shore
I did not care for you were there
To hold me up and more

But when you ducked beneath the waves
I turned and you were gone
I knew I was over my head
And sank just like a stone

We walk, we stop
Looking, listening
No words pass between us

maybe one short whistle
if I choose a different path
than the one he started down

His head turns quickly, his ears alert
A deer, a bird, a squirrel?
We synchronously freeze, awaiting confirmation

A doe approaches-we are lucky
The wind is behind her
Amazing how close she gets

A moment of communion
Then she jerks her head
Flips her tail, is gone

Thank God the wind was right
And I was sitting still
As she tiptoed through the forest
And slowly climbed my hill

She, a ballerina
Practicing her dance
Quietly closed our distance
Daring to take a chance

Pricking up her black tipped ears
Flashing tail of white
Straining to see what I might be
Eveready to take flight

Now she dares come no closer
Slowly lifts her head
Holds me in her doe like eyes
"Are you alive or dead?”

I was alive, (or so I thought)
Until that moment came
When her soft gaze pierced my side
‘til blood and water ran

There I died a thousand deaths
A thousand times rebirth
One quick turn of her small head
Moved my heaven and earth

In that infinite moment
I finally learned
All eternity
Is in each moment born

Go slow, like the old dog
Lying at your feet
Sitting on high bluff’s edge
Perusing all the lake

Chase not God with words or thoughts
If you do she’ll run away
Like fairy queens and forest nymphs
Fearful of your brash approach

Be the patient lover
No tearing loose the blouse
To satiate your ****** urge
So never feeling hers

Sit stock still on the red oak
A hundred plus years old
That lies now like the old dog
Toppled by the storm

Listen like he listens
Look longly, like he looks
Taking time to take all in
Things never learned in books

Don’t say a word to the old dog
And he won’t say a word to you
Sense the peace in his silence
Look long into his eyes

Follow his example
Trust he knows the way
Words are the Devil’s workshop
The old dog knows it well

After a while you’ll thank him
When your boredom turns to grace
When you quit thinking anything
And thus see God face to face

Stay in one place
How long? - Long enough

Long enough to see what others miss
To notice all the little things
The bug beneath your feet
The movement of the sun

Long enough for the birds to lose their fear
And come back to the food

Long enough for the house to become home
For the shrubbery to fill the voids
To no longer look like it did
When you picked it off the shelf at the garden center
Long enough for the vines to climb
Around the door and up the windowsill

Long enough for the marks and scratches
And dents to begin to appear
Like the rising row of horizontal pencil marks
Inside the pantry door

Long enough to learn where things belong
And where they don’t
To know that you can reach for them
On the darkest night
And trust they will be there

Long enough to know you’ve chosen well
That the things she did that bothered you
Have now become your treasures
That all those thoughts that someone
Might be better in some way
Have not stood the test of time
That perfection is a sterile land
Where nothing truly grows
That soulful smiles and honest eyes
Are what matter most

Early morning brought her
Sunlight from the water
Footlights for the forest
Highlights on every leaf

Hours pass before us
Quieting birdsong chorus
Stealing dew from flowers
My mid morning Grief

No wonder we chose spring for Easter
All nature joins in resurrection
Today, I found blood on a feather

The reckoning keeps coming faster
Invention killing all connection
Dead bees among the heather

Life and death and in between
A crazy quilt of paradox
Shall we be ****** or saved?

What in heaven does it mean?
Was Jesus crazy like a fox?
Is joy doubled, sorrow halved?

Not knowing gives me chills
Two calves playing tag
Romp over verdant hills

Binoculars are truly funny things
To focus on the far, you lose the near
Chasing stars, you forfeit
All that you hold dear

Vision’s field betrayed for clarity
What can it be?
A forest or a tree?
Only you can say

Wave or particle, or is it both?
What is this strange thing that God hath wroth?
A thing that is no thing until its named
And every child is wild until they’re tamed

Observation changes everything
Is the cat alive or dead?
Is a poem a poem
If it is only written
But it is never read

Einstein said that God does not play dice
The wedding came and went
The dead birds ate the rice
Must every joyful moment have its price?

Chameleons disguise among the bushes
Baby Moses hides in the bullrushes
The bush never burning to a crisp
The voice of God spoken with a lisp

The flowers for the bees
The forest for the trees