poetry

how we have been changed

how we have been changed

the Californians speak of fire hardening
ask if we’ve done it
no, but perhaps it’s been done to us

so many of us are like the survivors
in a forest after flame
you see the blackened triangular fire scars
for decades reaching up from the earth
marking the moments
when the tree might have become wood

but there’s also fire softening at work now

a new tendency to give others the benefit of the doubt
to not question whether they might have
had their misfortune coming to them
to give whole-heartedly, finally
embracing the there but for the grace of God
or a shift of wind
go I humility we all ought to have

it’s much too soon to see
how this fire will mark us
how we might now meet the world
what tangled undergrowth might have been
cleared out of our chests by
such a fierce blaze

poetry

cultivating hope

cultivating hope

how to counter
that burned-out feeling
hollowed and cratered
and smoldering sulfur

how to raze the ruins
that’ve laid waste to your acreage
that puff black smoke
with each footfall

where to put the melted
twisted metal detritus
the toxic conglomerate
of how we once lived

how to make space for new ways
when dangerous wreckage
demands all your attention
all your reserves

each day there’s too much to do
to corral devastation
too much at risk
all the stakes are too high

the earth is too frozen
to lay our backs to this January
we can’t breathe in green warmth
and fall up into sky

but, it’s going to take more than just rage
and more than demands
more than a reckoning
and not less than love

how else can we cultivate
a new way of being
besides sowing/sewing it
singing it joyfully

believing audaciously
daring to hope

pushing our tired hands
deep into scarred soil
not giving up
until something green grows

poetry

endings/beginnings

endings/beginning

that time of the year
when the serpent swallows his tail
and the skin is shed inside out
even the eyes seeing afresh
change is always possible
especially tomorrow

poetry

endings

endings

something’s about to change
to be wrapped up
the final period inked
and what can you possibly say
to leave this chapter satisfactorily?
what last rituals, goodbyes, reflections,
exiting bits of dialogue
can prepare you and your reader
for who you will be next?

one last SP
a final cold shower
a salute to the ribbon-tailed
then a return to English tongues