The Desert
The Desert Hills
The Desert Hills are calling me
Dark Mesa
Called the Pedernal
Whose proud form has stood
Damn near eternal,
Watches over the sand stone cliffs
Across the valley as sage scents drift
From the scorched earth
Of a July day on Piedre Lumbre
In search,
In search, of
Bronze Amulet
To give to my love as an Anniversary gift.
None have I found
That is up to the task.
Most are unworthy
A facade, a mask.
Not the malleable mettle that makes up our love.
None that protects like a shield forged from above.
No patina to show that through thick and thin
We’ve endured the onslaught from without and within.
No, our love deserves
Much more recognition
Than a candle stick or
A dime store trinket.
Yes, our love endures
In Re-creation.
We wear our Bronze
On Our Hearts
In Our Spirit.
How do you find your center when everything is dropping out from under you? When gnihtyreve is backwards? Take a deep breath remember that you are a drop of water, on a molten rock, spinning around a ball of fire that is being pulled into a singularity. You Are Here ^
Can I escape my inner me? Only if I take to the woods with thee. Where I must bathe in dirt and soake in sap. Where the air is so thin that I must breathe it again and again and again. Where butterflies mate and meet by the lake; fly up to the meadows to lay their little eggs on the purple and sage flowers that the caterpillars like to eat until they get fat and climb into the trees to turn into goo and then something new. To return once again to the lake to mate. They gather like scales on the dragon’s back, reflecting yellow and black like the sun on a stack of golden tiles that fly off now and again with the wind. They send my thoughts to the deer that disappear and appear out of the bush when you didn’t know where to look and see them standing right there in front of me. A Buck and three Does, a family so it seems, they fly off through the bush with a bound that makes no sounds and disappear into the beams of the sunset. So, yes I say I can escape with this outer Me when I spend time in the woods living this life with these — My Family.
Osprey
Osprey
Soaring
so
High
Osprey
Osprey
Preying
with
Eyes
Set
so
Sharp
as
to
See
Small
Movements
Only
the
Lucky
Will
Escape
This
Moment
“Drip
Drip”
Says
the Grackle
“Drip
Drip”
Black
Birds
in
the
Meadow
Morning
Crackles
“Drip
Drip”
Sounds
the
Splash
of
the
Rain
Black
Birds
Songs
Sing
Rain
Drops
on the
Range
Robin, Robin
In the road
Why do you appear
Everywhere I go?
Are you my bird?
My spirit animal?
I go by Peregrine
Yet, there you are.
A family or two live in
The trees in my yard.
But, there you are
Even when I leave
And head out into the
Woods to retreat
You are there
In the road being
Pleasant company and
My constant companion.
Every night I hear your chatter
As you call all your family in
So I too go as I get called
To dinner, as mama makes sure
To count them all (1,2,3,4)
The placid calm
of an abandoned hillside
now made resident
by my soft side
I have taken up these rolling hills as my cape
I drape it over my shoulders
to warm my spirit
against a cold dark world
that has sent me into the wilderness
to remember my origin story
to bathe in the forest air…
to watch the golden light set
fire to the pond which sears the
sun into my eyes emblazoning
the path to eternity
into my soul and kisses
me with hope that the darkness
can be killed by the light and
make the dark whole and holy
instead of dangerous and vicious
it’s delicious to consume
the sweet love of my family
as we spend some time in the woods
I
You can’t
You can’t
You can’t
Wait.
I’ve started in
The Middle
You’ve
Made
This
Suggestion
To Yourself
And immediately annihilate it with
“You Can’t”
—You Won’t
—They’ll never
— I’ll always
Accept defeat!
You Can’t
Be a poet, solve that problem, ______________
Mind your temper, be a kind person
You Can’t
because you always tell yourself
You Can’t
II
I hope
I hope
I hope
Wish
For the mystery
of maybes
You’ve
Decided
To believe
In something
Greater
So
I
hope
— You Will
— Why Always
— Just believe
And remember
That you are
FREE
To get published, help the disenfranchised, _____________
Share Love and Give Kindness
I Hope
Because, if You Can’t
There’s Always
Hope
A visitor sat in
The Golden Rain Tree
Sitting and awaiting
Still and patiently
Usually, the Finches
And busy bobbing
Their red heads
But today if they
Come to visit
They may end up
Quite dead.