red peony

Gifts

It was Jupiter's eye
that pierced you, finally

that blue spark,
with a strand of pale moon
pinned in the sky
like the last defiant ice
in a melting sea

and I lay down unseen
watching your heart
drink in

this blue-white fire, a splinter of gold,
the blazing hush of night sky

gifts
to break you open

I know how long to wait
before I brush an orange cloud
against your throat
and touch you with
the rush of seagulls' black-tipped wings

you sigh,
"nothing could ever be so beautiful"

and you are saying this, to me only
as I turn the sun loose for you
in the fierce wild light of January

igniting the frost
and you cry out

"nothing could ever be so beautiful"
as you look down, dazzled
by the crystalline grace
of a frozen spot of spit
under your feet
a gem

for love's eyes only

scarlet ibis

a short conversation with God

I asked God--

please tell me
where do I stand with you?

He said
THAT is an impertinent question!

YOU DO NOT STAND--
you tiny
insignificant
speck
of an animal

BUT
if my whole heart
could fit inside you

my dear one, you would be
my whole heart...

crystal stream

Ilinza

Ilinza, spirit
of the mountain stream

show me, bright one
how you can sing and laugh
while those rough stones
cut your belly

is it because you do not love?

Ilinza, silken, yielding
open to all who enter
why do you not bleed

when your lover
kneels, drinks his fill
and walks away

if I were in your body,
something would break, Ilinza

there would be water flowing
a glint from wet eyes
a crack in the heart

is this your source, your spring,
reckless spirit

cupping and releasing
each crystal moment
with glistening fingers

is this your secret love, this flow
a passion
for letting go

hydrangea close-up

Breathe

Breathe for me,
he said

I sent you
into this world
to be my body

Breathe, as if I were
the sweet air
moving through you

breathe, at each first light
when you wake as if
reborn

build your world again
out of my love

breathe me in
fill yourself slowly

keep me inside you
forever
and breathe out

we will be
the first move your body makes
and then the next

breathe for me,
give me joy

let me be the first
and the last love
holding you

sundown after storm

hummingbird

my hummingbird
wondrously made

shape of
smooth almond, cleansed in spit
feathers blown on

sleek coat of down
glitters as you fly
from flower to flower

I took aim at a board, once--
the dart flew crooked
from my hand
and missed

but you, hummingbird, move so swift
as if the very thought of flight
shoots you true

you say,
"no, you are wrong--
my grace is an illusion"

this hydraulic sinewed heart
cannot allow
one millisecond of failure

my entire being
beats here in my chest

illusion, illusion--
it is sheer courage
that hovers me
weightless
in the air's embrace

gambling with my life
that one more taste of sweetness
will keep me
from falling

swallowtail hanging on

butterflies

last year
all my flowers
bloomed too late for
the butterflies

in fall
I mowed the
butterfly bushes
to the ground

erasing the stems
over the roots
hesitating in winter

this year
the butterflies and flowers
dance together

not that I asked
but love made a wind
of its own

lady peacock

thunder

thunder
are you speaking to me

whispering
like a restless elephant

unsettling rocks
in the dark hills

ask them now, your trembling stones
who is their master

and whose caressing voice
pins my throat to the earth

ask them
who, from high above
do they see circling
like a great cat in the darkness

will my heart take notice
thunder
are you calling me