Category Archives: Uncategorized

The heart is a coiled hoseof ventricles and corpuscles, dear one,winding and twining in waystoo complicated to untie. And why would you want to?Your dented heart has acquiredasteroid-sized impressions that havebruised it, certainly, but also softened it,as well as causing … Continue reading →

I was watering in the backyardby the standing Buddha with extended hand,a gesture of lovingkindnessif there ever was one, and I picked up the hollow resin “rock”that says peace on a stump in the ivy,and it cracked in my hands,the … Continue reading →

I attend is his, is hers,the ones that never happened. I marvel at the graveside, at the coffinholding not him, not her, but someone I loved, which I could notalways say about them. And later, when I go sit on … Continue reading →

Fill in the blank:• cat (especially about my big guy)• flowers/tomatoes/Jan’s yard• tree• butterfly• companion spirit(s) But you get them anywaybecause they show up, fly in,even at the end of a season of fullness, so much plentythat I blush as … Continue reading →

(for Dick Schmidt) More than any other on the calendar,this might be your favorite holiday,now that I think of it, so me and the girls salute youby removing the booby trap,the over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder, the flopper stopper, the melon harness,the hooter hammock, … Continue reading →

Running vertically, splitting the night sky,the dark seam of interstellar clouds entwines the magic of the Milky Way,the inky river meeting the smidgen of galaxy our eyes can perceive.Not a division or a disagreement amping into argument or war,it’s a … Continue reading →

“Live in the layers,not on the litter.”—Stanley Kunitz, from “The Layers” ••• Walking the labyrintha week after you lead a walk there,you do not have to go far beforeyou find a small stone heart. You leave them for the walkers,tossing … Continue reading →

Begins with eyeblinks and uncovering, with sitting, perhaps with dislodging the dog/cat/loved one sleeping close. It begins with rising, the first moment of being vertical, for some of us with the first blush of sun, for others, if we are … Continue reading →

(for Dickie) It was an offhand, off-the-top,unthought-out remark decades ago,dashed off as we zoomed toward our destination,the oldest, still-standing hotelin the national park, him driving roads he knew well,me riding shotgun. We hadto meet someone or check in at a … Continue reading →

Someone told me that during evolutionfish scales turned into bird feathers, which perhaps explains why birdsemerge wet from their shells, pecking their way out of waterto breathe, and eventually fly, in mere air. Though we are notborn with feathers, humans, … Continue reading →