The Way

A thousand centuries will pass and there will not be another as beautiful, designed by favored poets and artists, all the masters, after an unaccountable number of trials, errors and revisions, until determined as perfected, then the blueprint abruptly and purposely destroyed, discarded and forgotten to preserve total solo uniqueness, though that distinctive, isolated result, unofficially ordained to never to be erased from mythology for the sake of antiquity.

2019

Echoes

It's so quiet in this outdoor cathedral

Where there's only thoughts .... and hopes

Each developing into a penetrating likeness of unparallel beauty and soul

Visuals serving undefeated spirit

Rising images born in the fires of a boundless heart

Then the stillness here, broken by echoes of a voice

Arriving with the northern winds

After the storm and ensuing calm

And it's always been here for ages, spreading warmth

An advertisement for spiritual tenacity

How could it be anything else?

2019

Everything Stops

Your treasured presence is announced in this rolling thunder

In the intensity of your stunning essence

The ethereal softness of your voice

In your never expiring beauty

And your determination to alter the odds

You're there .... and everything else stops

2019

Too personal to share until now. Found in the pages of a notebook. I don't think it's very well written or visioned but it now reminds of some powerful feelings I was experiencing at the time.

Surviving Improvisation

Barely surviving improvisation

This was never meant for interpretation

In a language I fear

July 2020

About the attempt to sound more exciting than I really am and the reactions and assumptions of another.

Final Moments

What was the thinking in those final moments?

No hesitation or regrets?

Nothing to cause you to pause and reconsider?

For the sake of six young souls

Their aching cries in unison

What might have been

..... was forever lost in a demented vision

Of an easy way out

All silenced for greed

For an imagined charade of eternal relief 

..... from demons and ghosts 

For insane jealous satisfaction 

2021

Possibilities Without Limitations

I'd once assumed your kind had faded away

Significant grace in chaotic days

You see the world in infinite shades of compassion

You share your soul by extending dignity and passion

Sounding fragile in your convictions

The truth is far different

Rooted in ways of another time

In a refined foundation of elegance

In a gentle intensity

Speaking of possibilities without limitations

From faraway sources of inspiration

A seer in this life

Assigned roles of timekeeper and storyteller

For fear that those things might fade to oblivion

For remembering the truth

For explaining the universe

For discovering forgotten gospel

Rejoicing in those moments of shared revelations

Erasing obscurity

To the benefit of lost generations

Sifting through the muse

With insatiable calling and purpose

You became all those things

In this needed moment

When visions border on extinction

Found in the pages of a notebook. I guess I didn't think it was very good. I still don't. But it's there. it exists. I read once that it doesn't matter if what you create is good or not. Just create something. So I guess that's what this is. It simply materialized one day. 

The Distance

The distance between here and there became too great to comprehend

Constantly navigating in torturous fear

Rigid paths of twists and left turns

Once thought to be negotiable

In a naive earlier moment

Eventually declared impassable

Despite bargained terms of acceptance

Made in the truce between remaining emotions

Devout persistence yielded even lesser results

Yet submission to reality wasn't an option

Hopes teetered in the shaky stability

No ending seen ahead 

Found in the pages of a notebook. From sometime between 2020 and 2022. Even earlier possibly. Detailing a struggle.

Herons

These herons appear at their appointed destinations

Preemptively materializing from distant heavens

Massive, decadent wingspans, dominating the horizon

Through the blended pinks and oranges of a thousand-year sunrise

Suspending flight missions to perch on rural wires

Did they wait all night in aroused suspense for this dramatic moment,

This choreographed display for my awed approval 

A balancing act for appreciative eyes

This flawed world has failed to disrupt their rhythms and truths

What are their secrets

October/November 2022

As I recall, I was taking early morning photos of Mt. Hood when suddenly the sky was taken over by approximately a dozen herons in flight, making their way to a nearby feeding ground where I would usually spot them. Several paused to perch on wires and take in what was below.   

This Fragile Path

Your mending flame, never receding

Illuminates this fragile path

From which I fail to navigate away

Where warmth exists and envelops

A lost, searching soul

I retreat to the silent edges

And listen for your distant, whispered tones

October, 2022

Occasionally, if one is fortunate, someone will pass through your life that is so far above and in front of, everyone else and if that time must come to a conclusion, it doesn't ease the departure or lessen the impact that they had.

That Dream Again

Awake after that dream about you

Navigating the immediate emotions in the gloaming

Hurt at your absence

Realizing you're not really here  

Uncertain of my tenuous footing

Your brief presence countering the reality

That you were so close

We knew each other's touch

Encountered instant revival

Now, the longing persists, refusing to dissipate

You didn't have to go .....

September 2022

This dream was felt deeper than any others. Almost like she was within reach. When I awoke, the emotions stayed for hours. Not the usual rapid fadeout of dreams.