Forest Zen

His mother sits, waits
For him, the visiting son.
She's happy to wait.

Anywhere but there
Where she lives, is good to be.
Old one's common theme.

Sitting a third day
Undoes me. Spine gets cranky.
I stand, lean, and hope.

Husband sits in house
Visiting a friend. I stand.
His Mom waits in car.

Whose idea this? Hers.
I dream of no cars and quiet,
A calm birdsong place.

Waiting turns endless.
Undone, I look for elsewhere,
Cicada song place.

I stand in tree shade.
I write and wait. Small brown
Toto befriends me.

I coo to Toto.
I nuzzle his ears. He sniffs
My leg. Leaves. Returns.

This is Toto's place.
I listen to wind in leaves,
Practice forest Zen.

Toto wanders off.
I remain, pacing the drive,
Breezes soothing me.

His Mom sits and waits.
Toto's back! Camera ready,
I turn to Toto.

"Aren't you getting in?"
His mother asks. I step back,
Startled, say, "Not yet."

Toto ducks, backs off.
No photo for him! Lost now,
This moment is gone.

This Green Forest Here

His mother chokes... Grapes..
Beware the skins! In age,
Lurk many changes.

"Can... we... go now?" she
Rasps, hoarsely, as if movement
Heals stasis, heals all.

My mother would choke
Yet still reach for her dinner.
Old habits die hard.

Momma's beyond now.
In dreams, she is quiet, just
Like brother Richard.

Families... lifetime
To lifetime, how long does this
Process continue?

Momma filled her home
With Chinese art, a lifetime
I too remember.

So many enslaved,
Momma, Poppa, thousands more
Down in the valley.

I and others fought
To free them. Later, freed, they
Walked the long road home.

"You can write poems
Anytime," says he, just like
Momma said to me.

"Look at this!" He points
To fields whizzing by. I lost
Much work by waiting.

Now I write when time
Pauses on life's river here.
Unfurl like ivy.

Reach out, reach up, stretch,
Lift my tendrils to the sun,
Breathe in air, rain, sky.

Hold on, let go, glide.
Life is an amazing leap
In this green forest.

Ode to a Butterfly

In the morning sun
Glitters a Kalanchoe jewel,
Strymon Melinus.

A moth, I think. Ha!
Photo taken, her wings glow
Kissed with light, a jewel.

Fairy princess she,
Silver lace her wings, studded
With paired rubies, poised.

Tartan black and white
Antenna tipped with ruby,
She nods to nectar.

Lycaenidae. Oh,
Butterfly Queen, "Gray Hairstreak",
Silver light you are!

Reflection

A leaf fell in pond.
Many ripples. When they cleared,
Everything had changed.

Danube Dreams

She dreams Danube dreams
in a cruise ship, gazing out.
Never been, wants to go

Who says what may be?
Ideas come and go like clouds
Or river ripples

Blessing is each day
Expand the dream, go forth, see...
To stay is to die

To deny a dream kills
Like taking air from children.
We are all children

Now to decide....Danube?
Elsewhere? Now? Next year? Sweet dreams,
Possibilities...

On a map mark it,
Spots you want to go. Dream them.
Travel in or out

Many ways to go.
In dreams, on ships, in deep books...
The quest begins now...

See that cloud above?
See that ripple in the bay?
Someday, I'll be there.

July 20, 2010

That Grayband Quest

"Don't write of the snake,"
says he. "Write of the hunters."
Visions of epics?

Later, she pauses.
An epic for hunters now?
She thinks of the snake.

Who has a choice here?
Ah! The snake chooses to live.
The men choose to hunt.

Who would choose a cage
For a lifetime home? You? Me?
Why would anyone?

She thinks of the snake
Again. Snakes don't think of us.
Is that the answer?

Why must we rule all?
Why not let be? Live in peace.
Archaic but true.

Okay, hunters, here:
What you take is taken away,
What do you give back?

He searches each year
Each year, others find, but not he.
Elusive for him.

If each year, you look
And others find, but not you,
What is learned from this?

Golden-tongued wisdom...
Always around us. Listen...
Let go and hear it.

No one can tell you
But you. Wisdom speaks softly.
Listen with the heart.

In a quiet room
In the dead of night, or noon
Truth awaits each one.

I hear only mine,
Not the truth of other folks.
My heart beats for me.

Snakes lie in their cage,
Or in a pillowcase wait,
For next feeding time.

No one can answer
But the snake what it prefers.
Hard to heart hunters.

Rooting underdogs
Comes naturally for some.
Overcoming all.

Success is like life,
Always in beholder's eye.
I look at the snake.

July 18, 2010

THE CURMUDGEON

Curmudgeon hoards snacks
In his room, crumbs everywhere
Cookies are his gold

Each thing has a place
For the old man-- don't move one
Or his world tilts up

Half eaten fudge ages
In a drawer, hardening -- but
Cherished as silver

An apple, red grapes,
These are his jewels, treasured
Until they wither

He doesn't notice
When peach has turned to gray dust,
He lives forever

Each day he gets grapes
From the store, puts them away
For a rainy month

Nearing 100,
He stockpiles pears but not time--
He glares if questioned

The curmudgeon rules
His universe is small, but
All is in reach

He forgets time, but
Remembers meals, eats well, nods,
Is polite to staff

"Leave my things alone!"
Means his universe must stay
Recognizable

A pen moved over
Could change the order of things
He rules in his room

Breathing

I sit by trees, lawn
Crow caws, answers... small bird chirps--
Garden symphony

Water sprinkles, sweet
Breezes rustle this and that:
Life breathes. So do I

Green leaves soak up sun
Tangelos dangle, red rose
reaches... I breathe in

If I were a tree
In my garden or a rose,
I'd breathe day and night

I'd never come in
If I lived in my garden
rooted, leaved, breathing

Shall I stay here then?
Outside, always in the air?
Become a Garden Soul?

Do you think they'd let
Me do that? Cross over here,
Become the soft breeze?

I'd sit forever
If I could just be, breathe in
The earth's vibrant self.

Tweet of bird, rustle
Of leaves, a slow constant song
Cycling on and on.

Do you think if all
Folks heard, they'd pause, breathe in, out...
Then go on their way?

Would hearing, pausing
Change us? Or would we just breathe
Then forget we'd stopped?

A tree is blessing
A rose a kiss, wind caress:
How the earth loves us!

Should I care who knows?
It just is, with us, without...
Blessing, waiting, deep

When one's body dies,
Can one stay elemental--
Be a pure being?

For a time at least
That sounds good to me, a pause,
A slow renewing

Seasons do that, too,
Breathe in, breathe out, pause, grow, wait...
Who's wiser -- plants? us?

It's not hard to guess.
Life eternal eternally
Goes forth-- We're extra

5 p.m. Saturday

Summer Quest for Graybands

After the night rains,
Men go driving slow,
Staring at rock splits.

One sees a wiggle.
Is it apricot and grey?
All hail the Grayband.

The snake halts, frozen.
In the shadows, it waits, still.
The men drive on. Ahh!

Freedom is strange here.
Snakes slow to remain hidden.
Discovery looms.

"It eats, it's fine here."
Do snakes always coil to sleep?
In cages, they do.

Along the rock gorge,
I slither, mists about me.
I am cool and free.

Blackbird in the Sun

Blackbird in the sun
Airs its wings in a tall pine.
Darkness glints with light.

Nothing moves, bare branch.
Only a void remains.
In the sun, all waits.

Blackbird is back! Tall
Shining in the sun, head up
Staring into sky.

Birdsong, sweet chirping
Then the honk honk of a crow
Feathered life trills on.

MEROSITY

In the shadows glows
The white rose, luminous, coy.
I step through the thorns.

I kneel in the mud.
In the last rays of sunlight,
I behold this dear.

O, pale lemon heart
What blush holds you so, dear rose?
I stare deep inside.

In the white roses's heart
Tiny pink blooms sprout where
Golden stamens sway.

Gifts

Dad thanks me for the
light bulb. Apricots, I give
him next. "Aaah!" he says,
a softness to his voice now
as the golden balls roll out.

He asks for green grapes
next time, seedless, though I've asked,
"Pears?" The grapes will sit
and some will rot, growing white
caps, like elders sitting quietly.

Other juicy ones
will leap into the velvet
red cavern of this mouth
singing as they slide down to
the lake. "Aaah!" he will murmur.

Apples wait for days
too big to be eaten, but
saved anyway. Milk
and juice sit out covered like
treasures hoarded, liquid jewels.

MAY 22, 2010

Calistoga

On thermals, vultures
soar, wide winged, elegant
as eagles. Behold!

My friends, the three palms
wave brown fronds this spring. I stare
Til green shoots appear

Gold. I catch the light.
Dark branches silhouette the fire.
Everything glows! Ah! Sun!

18 Haiku

Grey wet plop plop plops
Not so bad... except, look up---
I can't find the sun!

I don't hear the wind
I look & see quiet trees
But the heat is out.

Cavemen built fires
Out of the wind. They survived.
Modern man doesn't know.

I light the pilot.
Heat roars. Ten minutes later
it's out again. Rats.

I watch the greyness
Spirit slumps. I'd rather dance
On the tips of leaves.

In a drop of dew
In the sunlight, what is seen?
Who dances there? Do I?

Light is sometimes
Only inside looking out.
Blink but remember.

Do you know that place?
The one where sun shines always?
I come from there.

Hiding in a tent
Sheet over table, hidden,
I look out to sea.

The captain hails me.
I spring up, I run outside
And swim out from shore.

The boat picks me up
We sail off. Australia!
Goodbye England.

Old memories don't die.
They linger, like lamps in fog
Lighting the way home.

Spider webs, rocks,
A path I know by heart.
Walking is easy.

Sometimes the hard part
Is to go on to new places,
Let go, don't look back.

We don't have one life.
We have many, but no memories.
Just that tugging, here.

Do you feel it now?
Does it speak to you inside?
I hear it, yes.

To light a lantern
Is to remember the light
Inside. Forget rain.

I dance on the head
Of a pin, endlessly full
Of joy, remembering.

April 4, 2010