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

lone votive, Monte Calvario

lone votive, Monte Calvario

one candle
in a grey corner
when the wind is wailing
flickers warmth
it grows from an old
white wax mound
reassuring us all
that before long
someone will come
with a little more light
and strike the next match

but I don’t feel warm
in its presence
only anxious to leave
before I can witness
the wind whip it away