Details Among Us

Only if a heart is open does love
come crashing through I took
the scenic byway by mistake but nobody
saw The waves are wild here I picked up
a book There are no periods in it well
only sometimes round and round so far
two men are travelling through checkpoints
the drive easily felt the way continuing

I Thought I Had Secrets

Moon a shelf opening
escaped where
stuck.  Moon quiet
watching.  Moon water.

The Earth Is Alive!

The lava lake rises atop Kilauea
soon to spill out of the vent
a small puddle reaching
into a long fissure
quite an event if it does
breathtaking swelling Monday
a few feet shy the last time
thousands flock to the park
pink clouds against starry moon
drifting above the rumbling

Vanillekipferl

I'll remember best as a painting
so fine I cannot tell where edges
meet maybe I stood in powder
sweet guarding Linzer Augen
friends never quite leaving
when they're supposedly gone

They

Whose and whats did that when small details
loom largest awash spending our savings.
Will we become the best thing that happened
how are the savings created still counting
change as of yet deciding whether or not.

The Shadow

Without him the shadow lost her balance.  It was slightly tippy and side-to-side along the edges of the walkway.  Some steps made a xlick xlick sound but others were silent grass walking sounds with a slight swish then itchy.  A green block of color attracted her.  Between palms there was love but on an empty stomach these feelings turned into murderous ones.  It was her task to find out how to stop them.

The Lentil Puma

Upon closer inspection, her fur was a series of rainbow waterfalls arranged in spear-like masses clicking with electrified sheen.  Or, were they feathers found on the rim of the pool beneath the waterfall whose source way up on the cliff remained hidden, brushy, and cool.  A mysterious wind shortened the wings of every living being clinging to this shoreline. But that took millions of years.

Curved Horizons

Did the entire city rush
was it just choppy combers
sloshing in soupy coral sand
one car per person enough
windows open to the freeway
a few feet away following
will it go where I thought
will my mind follow or will
it all be purple everywhere?

That Sinking Feeling

Diamond Head drops off eroding cliffs
twisting trees way home ahead thinking
should have stayed over at this home
island imagining something out there
wind whipping up the past loneliness
long overdue whitecaps madcap against
empty-looking mansions full of things

Lonely Past

The tables were very round
at the back it was so far away
but positively flowers dominated
the day vast the day in a nutshell
Waikiki looking good patches of lawn
we looked for his routine didn't interrupt it
there were other places to look I wanted
to find him too I knew this old feeling
it was so familiar the Waimanalo breezes
why was I afraid there was nothing to be
thinking it would be so lonely past

Behind the Scenes

He recited The Wood Duck
over a period of six hours
took in an opera some rounds
in the hospital probably caught it
there the infection his strange language
recordings on wax cylinders
they left the food in the bone room
for the sightseeing tour back home
said it was different food then set out.

Scene Access

After forty years he.
Walked out of the wilderness.

A scientific windfall.
Had been searching for years.

1.  Play program
2.  Wild Man in Oroville.
3.  Uncontaminated Aborigine.

Ishi meets Carouso.
50 cents a scalp.

Ishi on exhibition.
Yahi massacres.

8.  Visiting Ishi's homeland.
Ishi's last hiding place.

Panama Pacific Exhibition.
Hard work and tuberculosis.

The message is one.
Deeply moving of the resilience.

Quiet dignity.
Of the life he knew so well.

Letter From Tatarus

The ancient Greeks
embellished and changed
time monsters heroes and gods
capturing drama (common)
mythological mistakes
memorized borrowed and sung
people honored and feared the gods
looked to them for protection.

Those stories highlight power.
Our lives today revolve around
incredibly human resentments
petty wounded chaos an overview
larger-than-life shedding light
strange rescuing is frequently
combined with special skills.

Themes thread throughout
ancient culture colorful stories
legendary tales highlight
relate to our lives today
petty resentments fragile egos
the palace interconnecting
Romans Greeks crops flowers.

Way Down

Landing light walking
silent exertion practiced
swift catch delicate touch
sweat that can't be seen
name of a certain step
to the side following
glittering with music

The Man Who Loved Her

The title more than the action
romantic we wanted to be her
out there in desert lands
cottonwoods the river
secret other names
we remember her
daring
how his ruined life
continued

   

Gone But Not Forgotten

In caves under uprooted trees
on rubble streets dead
our faces turn towards light
not yet put to rest

Non-fiction Nome

Truth holograph erupting
spring as a mysterious noise.

Terrible grinding nobody bothering
to explain it as happiness.

What matters most afterwards
something about surviving another year.

Thought is love flowers
instead of  blame and murder meeting.

Nanook everywhere except the tall tourist buses
darkened windows squishing along muddy roads.

Privacy thawing draining bleak.

April March Madness

Overtime in overdrive the world is a ghazal
Loneliness slowly drying out rolled woolens
Thoughts polishing couplets their countries of air
Counting fragrances the best part is when spring
Sticks to the body in the list growing shedding all
And gentle is the memory of a future unwinding

Old Airport

We took it through the nose.
There was a war across the ice.

Announced in the newspaper.
The abandoned airport's grassy gravel.

Joanne Nagazruk carrying Corine.
A lie posted in black and white.

All the way home piggy back.
Everything would turn out fine.

Was it Mom's insistence?
A blizzard starting up.

She said we needed to close our mouths.
We practiced cursive on chicken eggs.

Nora Jean Curtis on the cover of Three Dog Night.
The Arctic's inter-glacial dream melting anyway.

We made egg trees every year.
The TV channel showed their faces.

Of Course

Hopes moving along insisting
roll around mouthy clipping peace
day dreams along this way rainy
adopt heavy fragrance this one day
songs soft matters of fact talking about
speaking plainly through blossoming

Trappings

Waters of the sacred spring
darkening oily under stars clouds bats
owls their ways along the road
steady as cuckoos heavy as
a pomegranate yes this moving
along without punctuation a proposal
to fit into into forms others practice
not quite appealing is the first thought
challenging the flames bringing closer

A Big Risk Take It

We sleep on top of danger
until
designs
zigzags dissolving
maybe only
in sleep
forever remembering
grasses and shadows
more grasses watching for awhile
separating then turning to dust
so delicious waiting
meanwhile it is warm
melting

Longer

Where we whisper foreheads cool
silence a command just as other
laws now dissolved or are they
someone following us around
just to make sure steps picking up
gritty dust please hold
my poppies
gone to seed and these squirming
sheaves of wheat