Ocean Walk

Ocean Walk

I’ve reached the midpoint

The place where I have to turn

Going back where I came from

My way here was wondrous 

Boisterous, powerful 

Alone

I walked away from my childhood home

Until I could walk no further

I’ve reached the midpoint

The place where I have to turn

Going back where I came from

I’m going to walk back 

closer to the water

even though my foot prints may be erased 

I will have been able to touch infinity 

And that is good enough for me

Every shell

Every stone

Touched by the ocean water

Glistens and shines

They are so noticeably alive

Those that are dry

So dulled and lifeless

So I choose to walk near the water

Even though my memory is erased

I still will have glistened and shone

Even though my memory was erased

Even though everything was changed

When I walked away from my childhood home

I still will have glistened and shone

I still will have glistened and shone

Microscopic (Infinitesimal)

Microscopic

Most of the time it’s easier to do the “wrong” thing

It seems like holiness, perfection

Are just much too high

I can’t reach it

I can’t jump anymore

The pains in my feet go screaming galore

So I just simply sit down and stare

Then my head goes down

I look toward the ground

To see if there might be some happiness there

I seen an ant moving along

Taking the crumb back to the nest

His contribution, though a total success,

Will never, ever be recognized amongst the masses

But then I realize

It was recognized by me

So in this thought I feel quite free

To share

Keep being you

For one much greater than you

Sees

And knows

You are a total success.

Maybe not anywhere near my “best” but at the same time I get the sense this crumb will make a difference somewhere…

MishMash

MishMash

My logic and beliefs have worked me into a place

Where my own life is totally meaningless

I felt the inky black tar pulling me in

A small black hole here in the arms of the Milky Way

Small, but still no light could get through

Somehow wakefulness pulled me out of its throes

I still could smell the scent of woes

Lingering amongst my skin

I have no friends, I have no kin

Here in this place of foreign apparitions

Today I touched the black partition

That separated us from the world of the sane

The fright still grasps my soul, my feet 

Still know the sense of being the head

I hope I never know the dread

Of feeling overwhelmed again

“Happiness doesn’t come from what you have

It comes from what you are.”

Hmmmm

If that is the case I might be great

Or I might be on the path to destruction

Dismembered by the power of a gravity so great

No atom may enter untouched

“If I have many material goods, I will not have time to care

For the things I really love, then I lose my freedom.”

There is such goodness that comes from other worlds

Maybe this trip to the black holes of my own

Is showing me its time to look out to the Cosmos

To find the diversity of the light in the stars

I’m finding myself more in balance now

I’m finding the air to breathe

I think it’s time to sit here quietly

Taking the moments for simply enjoying the sun

I don’t know if I’ve lost or won

But I’m learning I cannot know it all

But I surely can let All know me

Traversing Oceans

Traversing Oceans

Often I’m writing poems

Even I don’t understand

The words just seem to flow from me

Like water from the hand

Though there is some deliberate direction

There is always also splash

The life seems just to splatter

It stains the crimson sash

I often love to drift along

Sail the open seas

And somewhere in the midst of it

I find out who is me

So try a little sailing

Open to the winds

You just might find your deliberate course

Becomes subject to beauty’s whims

There truly is the place of wonder

8/29/18

Cosmos

Cosmos

we live in a cloud of stardust

Hydrogen, helium, thyme

we think we are nothing

yet we are part of a vast universe

we think we are everything

yet we see nothing of our future selves

we are part of the suns, the galaxies, the moons

yet all the while no other will ever have our exact DNA

we live amongst all these tensions

these forces that seem so inanimate

yet everyday we find more who are alive

we live in a cloud of stardust

hydrogen, helium, and thyme

none of it eternal

all of it sublime

all of it in eternal rhyme

each of us making a difference

8/19/18

Windowsill

I usually don't explain my poems, and this one today may seem so trivial and simple, but I must explain it. I live in Redding, CA where we just experienced one of the most devastating fires in California history. Entire neighborhood blocks are gone, burned to nothing but ash and rubble and chimneys. Burned out hulls of cars are still sitting in the garages, only recognizable by twisted and tortured ashen gray garage doors. The smoke is still thick and heavy. 38,000 people had to evacuate their homes. I had to gather my children around and tell them that we might lose everything we have.
So when we were allowed to return to our home, it was still there. I took time, though, to go to the places where the devastation was most significant, and I wept. I spent two nights preparing for the loss of everything, and I didn't lose anything. There are others who returned to a pile of ash where their beautiful homes had been. I know we often think of our "stuff" as just stuff but these places are where some of our most cherished memories are. These places are what we've poured out our hearts and souls into.
I hope I never forget the feeling I had when I first stepped into my home the day we returned. I can only describe it as an overwhelming gratitude. This is what I feebly attempted to capture, but as they always say, "I can't put it into words."  And that's ok. Those are the truly meaningful times of life. So, with that, here is "Windowsill."


Windowsill
I see my plants in the windowsill
And I am thankful
I walk across the wooden floors
Carpets maligned
I am thankful indeed
I pass some clothes the children have strewn on the floor
Gratefulness
These simple things of life aren’t smoke in the air
They are daily reminders that life is very good indeed
For that I am forever thankful
For the simple greenery in the windowsill
For the simple greenery in the windowsill
8/11/18

Perched

Keepin' it short and sweet today. Happy Fourth!

Perched

It must be nice to be a bird

Always able to change your perspective 

Always able to fly over obstacles

Always seeing from above 

Like love