FORCE OF NATURE

     for Forrest

Comet’s tail

gave the Earth its Oceans.

Gravity shows

only the Moon’s bright side.

But the Forest

that sings of Orcas

puts the Heart in what’s Human

and the Beauty in Trust.

TOWARD

Ground to nouns.

To place or time.

Create relationship.

This is what prepositions do.

They invite change.

They modify, if we let them–

if we don’t hesitate, pause

as we make our approach.

Move toward them, a wise woman

once told me, a voice coach,

like you are moving

toward a lover.

We write our lives

like I am writing this sentence.

What do you say: I’ll remove

 hesitation if you do.

SUMMONS

A jury summons

came in the mail.

Months ago.                                                  

This week I went

to the Superior Court.
And waited.

To be called. 
To serve. 
For the computer 
to randomly 

choose my name.

I wasn't chosen.

But then I realized…

Every day I have the choice

to summon myself,

like Mohammad Ali did,

to be “the greatest.”
That I have a civic duty

to honor the inalienable rights

available to me 

and my Constitution.

Every day it is 

my choice to create

a more perfect

Union and to decide

and declare

my own State 

of Independence.

BRAILLE

Rich Little, the great impersonator,

could do a John Wayne like no other, 

swagger and all.

And a “Tricky Dick” Nixon to a tee,

both hands held high in peace signs.

But did he ever do Morse Code?

I don’t think so.

I have a friend who can,

who did one night, 

all of a sudden, at a dinner party.

He took us by surprise when he

started skatting the “dits” and “dahs”

like a Beat Boxer, Satchmo and Ella 

all in one, as if the tones came straight

from the systole and diastole 

of own his heart.

Before the laughter had a chance

to die down, I said:

Now do Braille!

You should've seen the look on his face.

He went nearly pale. 

Then completely silent.

I stumped him.

I stole his thunder.

I thought I was so clever at the time.

But then later realized

it was really more of a question

for me than him—one that

I have been trying to

sort out for some time:

How do you take the sense of something 
that touches you deeply

and translate it into a form

that is so palpable

that another can feel it also,

like a language written out 

in goosebumps.

BY DESIGN

The client

is usually

given three

comps, choices.

What is it

about threes?

Three wishes,

wise men,

the Holy Trinity,

the blind mice?

Door 1, 2 or 3?

Shell games

with their trio

of trading places, and

the gamble there in..?

You should know

design number two

is almost always

a decoy. It is

the bogus prize

behind door dos,  

there just to distract,

to deliberately

disappoint, so you’ll

move on to

number three,

the designer’s favorite,

the one they really

want you to pick.

They have saved

the best for last.

In the end

it comes down to

one or three. But

how long you spend

with number two,

with the decoy,

the distraction,

the disappointment,

makes all

the difference.

So…which door,

shell, mouse,

divinity, design

will you

choose?

And when

will you really

decide to see

who the real

designer is?