garden fall

love's darkness

what holds the birds
in the sky
is love
its gentle roundness
pushing upward

and the restlessness
in your eyes
is love
still traveling the maze
of your heart

and when you lie
sleepless
in the warm curve of the earth
here is love's darkness
holding the sun's late rays

running clear
like sap
through your empty cells
dusting your skin
with sweetness

white plumes

angel

you can hold me
I am soft as thunder
to the touch, and as wide

you can drink me
like rain into your veins
and when your leaves spin in the wind
that is my soul inside you
dancing

you can see me
dressed in my essence
in clothes of light

and you can walk with me
hands cupped like bowls
clothed
only in your breath
in front of God

Shandaken Eagle

bones of the sun

after your thrashing heart
overflows

when the pain slices your chest
like a shark's tail through coral

and the cut edges of your flesh
fray in the waves

after the dark tide
grates and spits and stalks away

wafers of pearl
whisper underfoot in the sand

bones of the sun
standing when your blood falls

dark river view

tiger eyes

I want a river
sliding downhill
through broken earth

clear hills of water
pushing against my wrists
when I kneel to drink

the gold in your eyes
the damp soil around my fingers
claw marks in the sand

pine vista

take control of the night

take control of the night
bite it
like a ripe black apple
till its juice
crackles over your tongue

speak to the night, softly
draw its dreams into your soul
paint your fingers
in blood
across the sky

take control of the night
hold its fire
to your body
like a blindfolded sun
leave your heart as hostage

forest

where are you sending me

where are you sending me
with your voice soft as
desert branches

like moonlight
stroking the mountain's brow

where are you taking me
with your voice
slipping down forest pathways

like new blood rushing
into quiet veins

stars on water

monarch

the grass sleeps underground
dreaming of rain

paper shadows
ride the thin wind
on orange wings

the sun leans lower
sky breathes southward
you remain

dropping pennies
one by one
into my heart

rain ends

is this the day

is this the day
to slide out of your shell
while the tide rolls into
the hollows of your shoulders

is this the day
when your skin blooms
like a mango
ripe to the silken core

is there a way
to slip past the trees
to where the air is laced with gold
can you carry it back
liquid, alive

does it wake you
breathing on your cheek
touching where words
do not go

is it time yet
make it so

baby hemlock tree

you are my sadness

you are my sadness
a bitter pear
under the tree

my sadness, my wonder
my one white hair
in a field of brown

my grove of trees
in a world of mist
my pillar in the sand

my love, my rainbow
my flash of light
in a hurricane sky

baby bunny

rabbit dreams

if I could have wishes
mine would float
down a river of salt

where each drop
drifting onto my skin
has the scent of the sea

my wishes like waves
would splash and spray
on the wood of my boat

my ears flying northward
my chest swelling southward
vibrating into the wind

while seagulls
above my cargo of carrots
would circle and hover

waiting to hear
the new solid notes
of my song

boat on rock

where is peace

where is peace
does it follow my dusty feet
along the road

is it in the air
does it enter when I lift the latch
singing like a mosquito

it is close, it pulls me
like a refugee
to a bowl of rice

peace, you have found my blood
offered in drops
like bread on the water

you have found
my right hand and my left
stretched out in front of your shadow

and my feet
running shoeless
one with your dusty road

cove

talk to me in poetry

talk to me
in poetry

touch me with a line
that lies in wait
and spills me backwards
into deep water

sing to me
in a tipsy key
that hollers and waves
while sliding
off a cliff

trust me with
a melody

that only you and I
and the universe
can hear