farm hands announce sheer light your cantaloupeblonde hair the way vinesrelax over the necks of grapes
George Cassidy Payne
Your calling
to be a teacherthe place insidethat invites respect your lightyour graceyour children I honor…
Like a Bottle of 10 Year McKenna
Color in whiskymeans nothing It has no meaningother than pleasure Taste is everything
Grieving
The Santoku knifeI gave to my brotherbut wish I hadn’t And some nights when Duke and Hankare on the turntable I still drop what I am doing
Changing the Rules
When I am not trying rules change.I am no longer afraid of who I am. Valueless like the tree falling with no one there to hear it crash.I love you.
Georgia O’Keefe’s Taos
is time collecting prints on the thumbs of sage smudged hills.A translucent blue topaz lightdisappearingbeneath half-eaten pine cones.
Birds of Prey
“Most people are onthe world, not in it” Muir said that so long ago but he was wrong Most people are outsidethe world, doubting they know how to be among it Riding under a hawk’s wingsthe air forgets what it means to be useless
The Sacred
is when you knowthat shoveling the drivewayis a Catholic mass and eating at Red Lobster is the same as receiving communion, that’s prayer and meditationa Yoga when taking a shower is baptism and going to the movies is Mecca when reading the Torah is reading the New York Times and going for a walk in the woods and having sex is celibacysmoking joints and tobacco and incense and salmon on the grill in the backyard on Columbus Day or Veterans […]
Journals
Happinessis teaching yourselfto smile even for peoplewho do not deserve it And even that in timewill become effortlessWhen is it easy for you to smile?When I am not trying As Times Changeso do rules. I am no longer afraid of what I want.
An Unquestioned Gift
Instinct reminds the butterfly they are changing No counting the daysor paying attention to the position of the sun It is always present