Lost Way to the Sky

4/3/25

tree shadows beckon

from the walls of the church

where eternity once was worshipped

all praise the birth

that demands joy

that seeks tears and kisses from death

i hear cries in the forest

tree wounding tree

errors of the lord everywhere

4/2/25

every first sunrise preserves my belief :: in a deeper, older fire

4/1/25

white coffin

now the waters are freed of ice

and the four directions repair the wind

and the fields rise up to heaven....

3/31/25

sea glass

i fish the wind for pines

3/30/25

for love of the ocean floor :: eyes turn to the open sea

who plays the flute that shapes my bones

3/29/25

if i am not certain

of the love of the earth

is it safe to take my life from your hands

3/28/25

the compass turns to a lone, dry wasp

in the silence of the alarms

all voices burn

what is thirst will find its way

when no one is looking

modest beatings

beneath a sky that may or may not answer

i bring out my heart

i begin to read

3/27/25

beneath my hands the axe splits open

on which side of death

is rest

because there was this inside them

the tea cup cracked

the face ceased

3/26/25

when unburdened of rose,

lord,

thorns bleed

when they are the last

and left behind

will the living waters speak

winter

in a stranger's tongue

no doubt the house

has honest blood

3/25/25

thus i was made

vein laid upon vein

no trace of yes in water

or blood

no name and no

odor of wound

life leaves its artist’s mark

small, red—

then weeps that i live, bled

3/19/25

wind is not the death of light :: darkness does not quicken withered leaves

upon the death of the mortal vine :: shall my veins grow new wine

(reposted/revised from January 2021)

3/17/25

umbrella, old, unclaimed :: endured the attic of my rain

3/16/25

in the perfect darkness of what is to become :: who cradles the mother of dawn

escape is the timeless lie :: my path never strays from its crow

3/14/25

With a piece of chalk, I drew on the blackboard the moon's golden eyebrow.

Yannis Ritsos

3/12/25

playing in the clouds :: my soul smells of earth

3/11/25

the shipwrecked surely shall learn to sing those songs that built the sea

With a bird for a pillow, I lie awake every night.

Yannis Ritsos

3/10/25

wind, carry us into my house :: the moon won't open for hours

3/8/25

fisherman gather me in :: fall back to your place in the sea

3/7/25

winter sharpened

mortal sky

blood-tipped locust

thorn, at

the point of joy

3/6/25

i hear sighs and silence

dormant forest

dark in the east, my city

laid to rest

stone saint

an engine

idles

the sky

longs to be known

(or)

stone saint, an engine idles :: sky longs to be known

there’s never enough earth

to drink our tears

love

it takes years

white bone

on the beach

where i wanted to walk alone

3/5/25

life death

put flame

in an iron box

who feeds

that flame

can never stop

music of the lake when it is ice

rapturous crackings

before and after

the first and last of life

some forget to breathe and dream :: ways of seeing fall like leaves

3/3/25

journey begins ::

bell to wind

storm clouds but no storm

three journeys

in last night's dreams

3/2/25

rain brings back

the mist, the bridge

the desire to remain in my body

2/28/25

the wound is littler

the moon is warmer

since you share salt with me

2/26/25

heart

white blossom

in continuous rain

eternal dying flame

when sparrow knelt inside your heart :: how many were the shadows

artist's mark

small and red

i bled

2/25/25

whose face on the card you feared to turn over

whose hands are named calm and grief

for whom does the appetite of an empty bowl

fill the soul with belief

wings

to carry this mountain

away from my grave

a presence affirmed

but whose—

the empty church follows me home

2/24/25

music stands still :: black icicle

old man sleeps not knowing his ocean has been swept away

2/23/25

it's fall and drunk :: i lean on the praise of a shadow

drowning by river

leaping from bridge

shall i visit the same dead

2/21/25

yellow moon

3am

hollowness growing, heart of our tree

in which of my many lives did i have the strength to die

2/19/25

snow falling climb it

encased in ice one might glimmer

2/18/25

seeds hidden

in my snow boots

—a friend

2/17/25

the window of the sky shatters

with a whisper

the boy will never forget

this be symmetry—

arthritic man

ice-bent tree

2/14/25

where rocks break

stream's flow

a station of my soul

2/13/25

ice:

rooted fire

pearls once

were water

home of shadow,

bone

don't all suns hold inside :: a dawn that was never alive

2/12/25

blue lake sleeps

dreams of falling

when i wake up the desert is real

2/11/25

(types of creatures)

the living clay i use for face

the lost son whose shadow we know as man

the dream i ate and died from

2/10/25

pace

of the moon

pulse

of eternity soft

wrist of the sky

on which side of death

is rest

2/9/25

to hear again one's given voice

the great oak of infinite possibilities

breathes

wisdom when a yellowing leaf

fear of the apple set free

stones thrown or left in sleep

the tongue to my words unperceived

2/8/25

hear an owl kill

in the clear mind of night

sleep and silence return

two dancers in moonlight

2/7/25

whose gospel have i been carrying in my unread heart

shall the ending be bound

to infinite light

2/6/25

read me as a poem in blood

swollen with new light

silence with little to say

2/5/25

fences failing

posts gone rotten

pasture teeming with moons

2/4/25

unburdened of rose :: thorns bleed

2/2/25

howling with kindness :: i awakened the tea

2/1/25

every night of our vow i shall love you for rain

love's silence :: we undress in the air

who else set fire to the sun today

aren't the two halves of my life wind, wind :: and a needle going through

1/31/25

what if my father dies

on the day of my child's death

or before i'm conceived

what if he dies

with his back turned to me

1/30/25

black truck arrives

as a silence

from a whisper

a story

night

death

its driver

death

its wings

silence

whisper

story

truck

night

wind unweaves

soul shapes speech

a new moon's seed

wherever i sleep

awake alone unguarded

1/28/25

snow immeasurable

forest kneels

man searches for his heart

1/26/25

i wake

finished

it was a long and lovely read

1/24/25

as i behold a bell breaking into light what shall the sleeper hear

1/20/25

there is always a voice drinking and dying

there is always a noisy fountain dying of thirst

there is the naked silence

of the friend who loves you

a woman releases the raven's feather

that whispers her name

this Ohio grows old within me

my body no longer dreams it is a river

1/17/25

found a coin

in night's loam

smaller than silver

larger than gold

like you

i am lost

to you

i owe my life

1/15/25

in my country there is no longer a straight path

foundations of home study the way of the waters

i share a blanket with the man who has no legs

1/12/25

sightless flesh

gathering strength to see

haunted by the moon

am i

1/11/25

dawn

the sacred eye closing

dreams journey back to the country of the dead

birds changing place with stars

1/9/25

coals burn in cold black sky

cold sky burns within woodstove coals

January

wind

god

giving birth

to the birth of god

1/7/25

reaching the high meadow

clouds making empty music

an eagle

emerges

1/6/25

new snow in winter darkness

death dream comes from nowhere

i am a white stone who can climb the sky

1/3/25

i remove tarp from woodpile

snow scuds

blue smoke from chimney lofting

into bluer panes of catholic sky

12/31/24

deep woods thawing

woods of new england

mistakes of the lord everywhere

my boat the moon :: i leave night unlit

12/29/24

sun dying

i become

part of the darkness

12/23/24

something like a naked limb to count the falling snow

12/11/24

who spreads their wings where grass is deep

who stares from air that cannot breathe

for how many lifetimes shall the green heart beat

5/28/24

empty hands

hold me above

a wind of unknown depth

5/26/24

there is evidence of sky in us

knowing the road has injured my soul

peace where waves gathering dissolve

5/22/24

the mirrors of her life grow stiff

wooden chairs from barefoot children

a dark mouth on either side of the wound

5/21/24

mourners have lost their way to the grave

and the dead waiting

for his death to be put underground

5/20/24

how grave is the feast of the diminished garden

how many lives know the solstice of ruin

when soldiers toy with saviors, who dies