The lobelia is dying. Its tiny bluish-purple
blossoms curling inward as though they are
giving up, the stems slack, lifeless. It seems
depressed.

She would ask if there is anything
she could do—but it’s a plant—and she doesn’t
speak the language of plants.

She bends down, takes the lax stems in her
hand and holds them the way she holds the hand
of the elderly woman she cares for when they
have run out of words left to share.

She’s new to this. She has not been fully
responsible for another living thing in many years.

There was once her dogs that she finally had to
surrender that time when she was in California
and wasn’t sure whether she was going to admit
herself into a psychiatric hospital or take a last walk
half-way across the San Lorenzo Bridge.

And there were her sons, whom she left behind on
two occasions because she was going mad in
Massachusetts. When the pressure had grown
too great and her resources too thin, she fled to
California to get away from it all—and both times
discovered she’d brought all her problems with her.

The last time was her Road to Damascus. She
found the dharma at a local meditation center and
brought it back with her. Minus a few difficult hurdles,
she has been equanimous ever since.

She looks at this once resplendent lobelia drooping over
the side of the planter on her deck next to the pansies, so full
of themselves, and the indifferent alyssum, and she wonders
if she can help it live. Or—if not—can she help it die?

has striking blue blooms
for asthma and bronchitis
lobelia blooms

there is a door....
eight weathered, slats of wood.
each slat, about four inches wide.

the door has,
in it's upper-right quadrant,  
a small, face sized window,
with,a pale,dove-blue curtain.

this door, has been painted
purple,
the colour, difficult to describe,
tho, reminiscent of shades of
carbon paper, or gentian violet....
deep, vibrant, solid, regal,
intriguing....

the path, which leads to the
door,
is gently curved, across the lawn.

blocked sandstone,
in a mix of large and small stone,
the colours of,
clotted cream and aged parchment paper.
and on either side,
a mix of, blue lobelia and  
happy faced purple pansies.

the door handle is bronze.
large and ornate
and on closer inspection,
is in the form of a mermaid.

the letter slot, etched with
seashells and starfish

at my feet, inscribed into
the top step...
"those who don't believe,
in magic,
will....
.....never find it."* R.Dahl.

and next to this door,
set into the wall.
an exact replica, of what i have just described,
only, nine inches tall

do not know,
who lives,
behind this door....
but i am, so going to find out.

i sit and breathe
the world, becoming
shapeless
and i float
left to a whisper
scents of lobelia- soft
thoughts of you
like pressed flowers
between the pages of mind
beautifully preserved,
dead,
nonetheless

Chrysanthemum fuschia marigold lobelia begonia hibiscus frangipani poppy

                                Some unnamed wildflower
By the side of a mountain path
In the rain

Smelt once
Never forgotten

And wild garlic plucked in
Fevered hunger

O god

I need your
Earthly connection with
Color and narcissistic
Flour-

Manna from heaven

FLY ME TO THE MOON

a *****'s cough
the Atlantic breaths in...out
'Ahhh....' sighs Memory '...you've come back

a riot
of lobelia
the butterflies go wild

shoebox
Men's Size 9 now
old love letters

Blood trails on the mossed Greek cheeks
The Memories' eternal catch but a wink in the cemeteries
My hands are made of spider webs,
Mine own heart, of shards
Fly, away they fly blue and white butterflies

A wine glass rolls in my hand, in my red lips.
Here stands Mona Lisa in my ethel funeral,
My abode so criminal: black leaves,
wrinkled lake, and dusted music box

A haunted castle in my spectral soul has
A marble floor extending its arms
To the mosaic of stained glass made
Of old apparitions

I, hopelessly romantic
Under the arch of an inscrutable moon gate
My clandestine tears on love letters
Stained with times and cherry wine

My rose is my wand so shy
Spellbound together like a parchment of decree
To the concaving world for a long farewell
Anonymous me! A man without pedigree

By the ruins of far nymphaeum, where
A garden of sculptures echoes underwater,
Where lost dwellers sleep of inarticulate tears,
I submerge like a goddess who lost her firstborn

On the cliffside where lobelia blooms
Wait I motionlessly amid the gyre of speeding seasons  
Hidden like burnt legends of gods
Like a page in the Library of Divine

There were doves.
Amongst them was a raven.
The doves did not treat the raven unwell.
The doves treated the raven the same as they treated other doves.
They did not look at the raven with disgust.
They did not look down upon the raven.
They are all birds, after all.
The birds treated all each other the same, as an equal.
It didn’t matter what one looked like.
It didn’t matter what parts one had.
It didn’t matter if one was a male or not.
Why should they treat one like that?
After all, they are all birds.
They help each other fly.
They can chose where they want to fly.
They can soar high and low together.
They grow from their strengths.
They grow from their weaknesses.

The birds befriend other animals.
Dogs, cats, foxes, wolves, and many more.
They befriend a little human girl.
The human little girl wished she was a bird, but the little girl said that if she were to be a bird, she’d be locked in a cage.

‘Why? Why is that?’ We birds asked.
‘Humans. That’s why.’ Replied the little girl.
She said that she would have limited freedom.
She said that humans would control her ability to fly,
Humans would control where she would fly.
Even if she wanted to go the other direction.

‘Why would humans do such a terrible thing?’ We asked.
The little girl hung her head low, ‘Humans want to take advantage of others. They tie each other down. They cut off each other’s wings, and rip out their feathers so they cannot fly. They put each other in cages, where only they are in control of one’s freedom.’

Humans don’t fly as one. They never will. Not even in millions of years.
To be as one is something humans only hope to achieve. Something humans only dream of achieving something so simple.
Just because one is different, they are not treated the same.

Even birds are different.
Birds sing differently.
Some sing higher.
Some sing lower.
Some sing better than others.
Yet they sing in harmony.
Even though they are not the same, they treat each other the same.

Why can’t humans fly as one bird? Why do some have to fly lower and some fly higher?

Each day the little girl visits,
she has to be home by 5:00 PM.
Each time, before she leaves,
she says that she’ll come again the next day.

One day, she hadn’t returned.

Oh, how sad.

She was only just a bud, in a field of full grown flowers.
Yet they picked her for decoration.
Living decoration, never lives very long.

Oh, how sad.

She was only a bird,
that had her newly grown feathers, plucked.

Oh, how sad.

Just like a butterfly,
When those wings are broken or ripped,
They will vanish within the earth.
Becoming one with the earth.

Oh, how sad.

Children are supposed to fly. Not fall.
Children are supposed to grow. Not sink.
Children are supposed to be brought/taken under one’s wing. Not to have their wings stolen, so that one could fly higher.
They are supposed to be taught to help others fly. Not fall. To be taught to grow and not steal.

Oh, how sad.

Now we sit upon her rock, with her name engraved. Lobelia Anemone/Verbena Anemone.

Oh, how sad.

The raven, weeped the most.
The little girl and the raven were closer than others.

Oh, how sad.

The rock was covered in feathers and flowers, that was only left by the birds.

Oh, how sad.

They left flowers that were just like her name.
Other flowers were left too.

Oh, how sad.

You couldn’t be one with your kind. So now, you can be one with the earth.

Don’t worry dear child.
A bird doesn’t live very long.
We will see you soon again someday.

I am sorry.

Maybe one day, you are reborn as a raven.

Maybe one day, we could all fly together,
As one.

Maybe one day, we could all sing in harmony together,
As one.

Something a human could never achieve.

I am sorry, my dear friend.

If only you could fly.

I would be there.

I am sorry, my dear child.