Lose your self

lose your self
stand in the dappled shadows of time
see with river eyes
breathe in and out the glinting currents intertwined
let love move
in perpetual motion, theirs, yours, with mine

Low wind

tilt your face to feel
the soft heat that presses to
whisper secrets here

already they slip
from that long rough tongue into
the shell of your ear

the unsteady beat
of the wind's sound in the grass
rivets your heart through

slowly unwrapping
turn by turn under the sun
the wind unwinds you

feel the wind run raw
rhythms through your pulsing veins
sounding red through them

how does the wind know
which songs soak through your bones just
as if you knew them

Pick up

pick up this wind
carry it in your hand
if you can

mischief sings
a little song behind
my ear

what heat burns
in the thick
of the sky

what question shines
in the blink
of an eye

what song sings
to the beat
to the rhythm
to the jump
to the thump
of a heart
all the time
all the time
all the time

Owl feather

"Love is the only emotion
that expands intelligence."
— Humberto Maturana

Heat wave

dizzy from lack of sleep,
sipping coffee in the warm air
of morning, its steam drifting
up before the ragged grass,

tired eyes move slowly to
track a raven's shadow
from the high reaches of a
sycamore into still air

drooping leaves of the appletree
sigh from last night's heat
and turn again into the sun's
broadening, white brilliance

So what

so what if this trail
leads nowhere: I breathe love in
again and again

Under these hills

the hills above town
turn brown in summer

a light, golden brown,
color of summer grasses,

when the sky slides west
and the land reaches for the night

the summer sun's loosened light
moves gently across these rough hills

and makes of them a gather
of soft and shadowed velvet

under these hills, my hand moves
along the slow curves of your spine

In Chinatown

the store is crammed
unrecognizable packages lined up
gaily on the shelves
like colorful flags along a string

we select one of the packages —
the label completely
incomprehensible to us —
just to find out what is inside

despite cheerful graphics
shimmering on the outside
in red, green and yellow
we have no clue what it contains

as the plastic exterior tears
my eyes meet yours

what if the world
suddenly lost all language

and words became
useless things

we reach inside the bag

It is not the vastness

it is not the vastness of things
nor their tender delicacy
but the way everything sings together
one pulsating chord of light

Lost

while I am here I become lost

exactly where I sit
is no longer exactly where I sit

everything becomes light
light becomes everything

There

sliding across a
mirror of water the prow
slices sea from sky