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Archive for January, 2012

three haiku on the how of it

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on January 31, 2012| 3 Comments »

adios map
from now on I travel
in

flower to flower—
so much honey here I turn
it into work

why are you surprised
I’m naked? I don’t know why
you’re not

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Dissolution Haiku

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on January 31, 2012| 3 Comments »

I asked the night to
swallow me, it said, Darling
I already did

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five haiku

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 29, 2012| 5 Comments »


I could never say
what love is but often
I say I love you

*

you’re shy? it’s okay—
I can drip love from these words
instead of flooding

*

who says there is
only one sun? let’s think
vaster than that

*

falling through
the spaces between stars
a temple of emptiness

*

a velvet cage
is still a cage she said
scissors in hand

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The Gift of Forgetting

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on January 29, 2012| 3 Comments »

As salt dissolves in ocean,
I am swallowed up in you
beyond doubt or being sure.
Suddenly, here in my chest a star
came out so clear it drew all stars into it.

—Rumi, translation by Coleman Barks, Say I Am You

Dear Rumi,

It is easy to believe that a star could come out so clear in your chest,
a star so clear it could draw all stars into it, but in my chest? Here?

A star so clear? I don’t think so. No wonder I stumble
each time I try to memorize this line. I don’t think this is humility.

Is it fear? Fear of being responsible to my own light?
Here in my chest my own heart is straining against the cage

of my ribs, pushing hard all the oceans of blood that stay
in the shores of this skin—some interior ocean I am afraid

to go swimming in. “Not past the tip of the nose.” That is what
my teacher says, and time and time again I feel how true it is,

and now, your words like rocks in my mouth, here in my chest,
the same lesson again. I have been dreaming of stars,

dreamt that they were being poured into my mouth, not just the stars
but the spaces between them. Are these the stars of which you speak?

My god, here they are, already they have been given to me, and I am somehow unable to see them, unable to believe my own experience,

unable to unwrap the packaging and receive the gift. Here in my chest—
but these stars are not for me. Not something to make me brighter,

but a light that belongs to everyone. All of us dissolved
into the same ocean, all of us dissolved in the same night.

I can almost touch this, and then it is gone,
there is still too much of me here.

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winter haiku

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on January 28, 2012| 1 Comment »

between waves of snow
your letter brings carpets of
pink camellia

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four haiku and a tanka

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on January 26, 2012| 1 Comment »

inside that sigh
migrate a thousand thousand
butterflies

*

what’s quiet
is still quiet behind
the barking dog

*

I fall asleep
aware of part of me watching
the one who sleeps

*

these arms
not reaching
but waving

*

poor woman
stopping long enough to smell
the juniper berries
only because
she has to pee

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two haiku

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on January 25, 2012| 2 Comments »

watching the tulip
do the splits, every part of me
becomes tulip

*

this old atlas
pages of borders long since changed
and rose petals

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haiku

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on January 24, 2012| 3 Comments »

quickly now it ravels,
this garment of everything
I thought I knew

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seven haiku

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 24, 2012| 2 Comments »

those wild geese
edging the clouds, my thoughts fly
beyond their wings

*

just one more row
I think, and knit one more and think
just one more row

*

the night pressed
its darkness into me, what
could I do but open

*

these ears
go on a long walk looking
for bird song

*

while no one’s watching
I trade all my molecules
with the night

*

did someone sow
all those stars, or did someone
trip and spill the bag

*

walking at two below
both questions and answers
come out as clouds

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four haiku

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on January 22, 2012| 3 Comments »

That bald eagle
flies this canyon every day
today I saw him

*

all day I try
to scrape it off my skin
that bad dream

*

long after you leave
the chairs remain hushed so to
better hear you sing

*

every story
I’ve ever had
the end

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