PRESENCE

With no trace of the past,

no prior hurt or regret tethered to it,

the present moment came unbidden

borne only of generosity of spirit,

with poetry on the tongue,

and with every part of its message 

behaving as an invitation infused 

with levity, love and light.

Presence has never been so easy

to be with, its spunk and spontaneity 

seeming to say: it's good 

to hear your voice again.

It now hangs in a state of grace, 

hammock-like, waiting to see 

what will fill it next.

ASSISTED LIVING

It is the little vanities 

that tell me 

she has returned.

The way she risked

 

falling just to get 

her bracelet back on; 

the way she stood 

at the kitchen sink

scrubbing her dirty ear rings 

with her gnarled, arthritic hands,

so could have them dangle again

from her dainty lobes;

the way she had to touch up 

her burgundy lipstick 

before going down for dinner

in the dining hall;

and the way she had to find 

her favorite comb 

before going to bed—

the four others she found,

that were more than willing 

to do the job, just won’t do.

None of this mattered

three weeks ago.

There was no energy or interest 

in any of the accoutrement of daily life.

My mother could hardly speak, see or 

leave her hospital bed

after the stroke sent her to 

the ICU one night.

She won’t be going home,

the doctors said, back then.

Skilled nursing will be her life

from here on out.

She showed them.

Home is where the heart is.

And where you keep 

your favorite comb.

POEM

Even now, in

the darkness 

of night, as I 

struggle to

find the words

to make a poem,

the green orbs

I only just discovered

the other day

in my backyard,

are quietly 

tinting toward

the color 

of persimmons

on branches I can

imagine but not see.

THE SPELL

The master carny in charge

watches his mirage

take shape

in the Dust Bowl town.

The Big Top grows taut and high,

is stretched in every direction

as the human curiosities

tug at the canvas seams.

The dry, cracked earth,

the dust storms, are gone. 

The spell is cast.

The Greatest Show On Earth 

is all the eye can see. Culpability 

rids itself of responsibility.

And all are awed and watching

while thirst and hunger 

are in a dream dreaming 

and truth is nothing more 

than a red dust 

caking on the tongue.

THE CHARIOTEER

The blacksmith steps away 

from the forge where the gold 

is cooking like a thick brew

to help the young boy

into the chariot,

to hand him the reins,

leaving the ore unattended.

With a fire and fury, the boy gallops 

off into the distance, and with him 

magically, surreptitiously go

some of the blacksmith’s 

precious gold, unbeknownst to either.

The neglected element 

is not fooled:

it knows the cargo 

the charioteer is carrying.  

It knows the village

will never reclaim its losses.

 FLUENT AS EVER

Everything now is a herculean effort:

           drinking water from a paper cup

            reading what’s right in front of her

            forming the simplest sentence.

And yet…

            when I hand her the phone to hear 

            the voice of her 94 year old boyfriend 

            the words are there 

            in a repeating stream: 

            I love you, I love you, I love you.

And, when 

            I leave her hospital room

            telling her I love you, Mom, she says

            so easily, so directly, so effervescently 

            smiling, broadly, with eye closed

            I love you more!

WANTING TO BE REAL

Doors are 

so easily 

made into 

metaphors.

But for 

the Buddhist 

on Death Row

a door’s 

an idea

wanting

to be real,

to be taken 

in hand, held –

the knob, the handle –

and pushed 

or pulled

with the strength,

weight and will 

that’s one’s own.

Give this man 

an actual door

to open

and he will cross

a threshold

neither his meditating 

mind nor jailer

could deliver him to:

the simple freedom 

of fending 

for himself.