POLLEN*

Seeking quiet

I sometimes go 

into the cave

of my own mind.

If I sit long enough

I will see 

Sanskrit letters

Buddhist sutras or mantras

all inscribed and glowing 

in the stone of the walls.

And if I sit longer still

I will hear voices 

of nearby ascetics 

and sages chanting

in their caves. 

So many voices

scriptures and teachings 

come to me

in the hollow 

of my mind.

And if I sit longer still

the cave becomes 

a hive

a magnificent buzzing

a swarm filled 

with its hunger 

for pollen

and the image 

of bobbing in flight 

among the poppy petals.

*Inspired by the book, Tantric Quest: An Encounter with Absolute Love, by Daniel Odier

WHEN THE GHOST IS GONE

a phantom limb 

and the pain it knows

or the promise 

of a promise

either is 

an option

a cipher

is a zero

or a circle  

catching dreams

 LEAVES TO THE LEFT

Heart shaped

and verdant. 

Sun pumping 

through them

through their rivers 

of raised veins.

So much rawness 

gathered in one place

is nearly too much to bear.

Yet, I step in among them

to get a closer look

to be surrounded by branches

to be inside a thicket 

of leaves, leavings.

Their green fuse is on fire.

I can almost hear the crackling.

A sound like Sirens singing

like songs, sonnets, sung

to Orpheus–who also knew 

something about grief and loss

and what it meant to be left 

and then subsequently

 torn apart. 

FEATHERING THE FIRMAMENT

A feathering 

made possible 

by the light 

of the sun

A wing

that beats

as leaf, sky

and cloud

A bird, brilliant

and soaring

A firmament thronged

in green, blue and white

THE SECRET OF SILK

There is a poetry in you 

that is primordial, imaginal.

Let this time 

be your chrysalis.

Spin, spin, spin. 

Abandon the old self.

Your new life is

 the secret inside the silk.

THE KOAN

She disappeared

In an ether of silence

Without warning

There were no 

Hands clapping

No forest

No trees

Only the sound

Of falling, falling

CHEATING THE MAZE*

Put your pencil at the center—

the place you want to end up—

and work your way out

to where you actually are.

 

Now you can start.

Now you can move

toward the heart of the maze.

This is the fastest and surest way

forward. It’s the path 

with the fewest obstacles, 

baffles and dead ends,

because the backtracking

shows you the routes

not to take. To win 

at the game of life

you must outsmart the mind’s

machinating maze.

You must cheat it to beat it.

*Inspired by Ken Page’s Deeper Dating podcast, [E003].