Posted in Uncategorized, tagged brain, connection, memory, neurons, poem, poetry, synapse on August 27, 2018| Leave a Comment »
We are perhaps like neurons
that never touch—
but that doesn’t stop
the chemical buzz,
the lightning charge,
the electric thrill
that leaps the gap—
and in that span
all meaning is made,
long red ropes of memory
twisting and knotting,
braiding, unbraiding,
and nothing
is ever the same.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged connection, poem, poetry, song on July 1, 2018| 4 Comments »
Whatever an open field has always tried to say,
that’s what I long to say to you. That, and the blue thrill
that trills in the larkspur just before it blooms.
And the communion of threads in the blanket,
the sincerity of wild strawberries, and
whatever it is that lavender says to the nose—
those are the notes I would write into the song
I’m still learning to sing, this song I would tuck
into your back pocket so that you might,
in the middle of a day, perhaps, find it there,
like stars behind the blue noon sky
just waiting for their time to emerge.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged airport, beauty, connection, humanity, poem, poetry, travel on June 21, 2018| 6 Comments »
It was Concourse B that altered me
as I ran past old women in sarongs
and young wailing children and men
in red ties and couples holding hands.
At first, all humanity felt like a hindrance,
living hurdles between me
and gate B-14 where the plane
for Seattle was already boarding.
But then, and who can say why,
as I stitched past B-70, B-68, B-66,
I began to notice how beautiful they were,
the ones with dark briefcases and the ones
with strollers, tall ones and fat ones and
slight ones and crooked ones,
all of us constellating in the same place
at the same time, star dust
with dreams and goals and heartaches
and hopes. And as I wove through
the fabric of us,
I felt their blessing as they parted
to let me through,
and I blessed them, too,
with a thousand silent thank yous,
astonished at how different we are,
how very much the same.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged connection, heart, poem, poetry on June 20, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged communion, connection, poem, poetry, wine on December 28, 2017| 2 Comments »
in me a wine
I want to pour for you—
each sip made
from a thousand tiny bells
still waiting to ring
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged connection, poem, poetry, punctuation, semi colon on September 26, 2017| Leave a Comment »
the semicolon,
ever winking, ever promising
two independents can come together—
a tiny constellation
glittering beneath my pinkie
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged chemistry, connection, poem, poetry, spider mite on January 19, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Wiping the spider mites
off the gardenia,
I am not proud of the work.
I know the nearly invisible pests
will not go away
if nothing is done.
The gardenia will die
if they thrive.
I reduce us all to protons
and electrons, gluons and quarks,
all of us more similar than not,
perhaps even exchanging
parts as I move the damp cloth
across the leaves
in an attempt
to keep something whole
even as the world
spins apart.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged attitude, choir, connection, depression, poem, poetry, singing on December 11, 2016| 1 Comment »
Walking on the muddy path, I try
to convince myself it would be easy
to be happy. I’m not hurt, my family is well,
and the sun is almost out. I tell myself,
look, look how the ice from last night’s storm
clings to the tips of the branches
and, as it melts, see how the whole world
seems to gather in a drop. But there is a snarl
deep within that is snagged in the thorns,
trapped in the ice, intent on locking itself
out of heaven. It scowls at the wind,
at the sound of the traffic, it grimaces
at the story of itself and retells the same
sad story. It is hours later I notice
how easy it is to fall in love with the world—
how it takes no effort, no convincing at all
to weep at the beauty of hundreds of people
singing together, oh the deep melting,
how the whole world gathers in a drop.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged connection, loneliness, poem, poetry on June 5, 2016| 1 Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged connection, path, poem, poetry, wall on May 28, 2016| 4 Comments »
Walls will only crush you when they fall.
—Ray La Montagne, “Be Here Now”
So when
a wall forms
between us
let’s
reuse each
brick as cobblestone
we’ll build
our own path
as we go.
