Lost Way to the Sky: 2025

6/30/25

long limbs of light climb

where resurrection leads

white leaves appear on willow trees

new prints in the forest clay

cumulus building a new sky

whose shadow will be slipping away

6/29/25

the audience calls out a name

the name dies instantly, cries to god

is made flesh, bleeds, dies

joins the audience, calls out a name

water pulls my secret

deep into its pockets

loves the drowning i do not love

i will know it

outside the dream

when it comes

behind the calm

because it breathes

6/28/25

one can heal

and another is healed by being wounded

the way death stands some people up on their feet

an old postcard from the rain kneels

in my hand—

this longing for home when there is no shore in sight

6/27/25

sunset

because i can die i am living

everyone i love but do not know opening in the wind

a monotonous ferry ride

becomes soil beneath the feet of god

where the eyes of the dead open and open

6/26/25

whose gospel has left my heart unread

whose sun

shall leave my eyes

corn and clover

where am i going

the secret never arrives

6/25/25

removed a crushed body from the asphalt lane

killing heat forecast

we teach death our ways

are you one to dissolve

in the salt of a soul

seeking moist and timid sin

untied from its willows

the river dies—

stars graze on time in the desert sky

6/24/25

gathered the freedom

to be an anchor

wandering among the waves

6/23/25

restoring the egg to its skimpy nest :: gently closing its eye

more shadows in my eye than a universe of eyes—old sky as barefoot as birds

can you sew me a pocket :: filled with answers and doves

6/22/25

always thought water would listen to anyone

mouth of sighs

breath of hearts

6/21/25

stepped into life's water

stone without skin

felt for the first time cold winds

shall my flame weep in the reign of ash

shall i claim the living pine where mountains die

whose voice has raised a shadowed word

against seas of shattered light

glimpsed outside

on a weathered sign—

blood that flows

between two hearts

will never answer to time

6/20/25

peace to the death

which becomes a rose

peace to the heart

which greens you

6/19/25

our music preserves the echo :: of stones washing the sea

6/18/25

inside the dying of my apple tree

the rose is old

the dreams are green

the sky you awakened in the eyes of the rain :: holds the moon the night and the reason to remain

let wild seed wake before the rains grow old :: before the moon is shut out of your heart

washing my poetry i sweeten the sea :: until the green of your island is saved

moon sheds moon

opens an infinite eye

the risk of being reborn throbs through the sky

6/17/25

to be water that has not found a well

to die young

fallen from a cloud

6/16/25

if there is a gate it will be left open

if there is a border may the dead guide you over

but follows no road where it goes

birth was a drama that one member of the cast does not remember

soul

not substance but naked

—voice in a mirror with tiny cracks —

where the other face of night is looking

—kissed by what the poet sees —

resisting all that falls from god

—nothing else can be so still

6/13/25

just enough darkness to forest the world :: then light dawns in one leaf

6/12/25

last drops of rain in hands of a breeze stirring what others need

in the throb beneath a drop of blood :: i feel my wounds at war

6/10/25

in the oar i've abandoned i long for the sea

when its suffering's washed away :: what remains of clay

6/7/25

let's awake in the garden others can't see

naked as the moon turning dust to dream

6/6/25

a crystal drop tips each twig

chickadee calls drift away

i enter a willow at dusk in the rain

6/4/25

does water remember the child in its arms bleeding his beautiful pearls of breath

i set out candles at daybreak to keep some darkness near

there is sky in my arrow :: there is no path to my sky

6/3/25

can you remember the touch of your hand as it gave you the power to heal

is memory the only place the dead are given light to see

5/30/25

shooting star with the strangest ending :: eyes of the living

5/29/25

hands unravel

wheelbarrow topples

soul rejoices in flame

5/28/25

shapes created by the gods of pine—

ships on a cliff

a cross without arms

5/27/25

on which side of my skin is sky

5/24/25

i dream of hundreds of broken windows

and of she who reveals

the stone in my heart

5/22/25

will there be a brief moment, infinite,

to take this in—

i have gone the great distance bound in one skin

5/21/25

singing to be alone and not alone sweep sweep my aging path

5/20/25

how the cave where we could see really see there are openings

became the star

i hold inside

5/18/25

how strange that nowhere should be nearby :: like the wound in my sip of wine

my sun is not substance but naked :: to the infinite shadows of light

5/14/25

dead wood beautiful failures

forgotten rains

the light that leads my way

in the valley that opens when no one is looking :: the seeds of your eyes have been sown

5/13/25

there are days windows sleep

there are days when death hides in yesterday's breeze

why is silence peaceful in a forest of wounded trees

a hand reaches down

a friend stays the night

a fly sits in prayer since winter

5/12/25

dream looked around inside the child

found room burned

a Ferris wheel down

5/7/25

rain alone there has never been :: rain on morning skin

5/5/25

will all that is stone return to flesh

isn't deep where old snows fall

whose hand understands the genius of its palm

5/2/25

a circle of stones

where the circle doesn't close

death comes and goes

4/29/25

bound together

grains of sand begin to breathe

we shall hear the oceans drowning

4/27/25

strange to be immortal

stars tasting my mouth

i shall grow a yellow house

4/24/25

first day of life

the moon counting

its delicate birds

4/23/25

streets walking with their heads held low :: i climb a distant radio

4/22/25

what did blue see from its window before it became an eye

a voice for things which don't exist :: i am egyptian in silence

4/18/25

are the passages missing from my shadow

written

on a fallen leaf

4/17/25

found asleep beside the weariness of spring

your mother when she was young

yet changed

4/16/25

a man breaks down

who was it you ask, what

was the weight of the stone

4/15/25

keeper of the solitary soul

permit me space

among the flocks of this earth

on a day without sound

adrift on a lake

my grave is unhurried

my hands cry out all night in their sleep

dawn rises

a hole in its palm

4/14/25

grasses

grow over my roof

a message drifts through the sky

4/13/25

do you know stones go blind when you kiss their eyes

who can ferry the sea out of its fog

4/12/25

hands and truths shall be broken

we know

when a rainbow

lord, why do i grow cold trying to keep you alive

am i a petal waiting

for the sun’s eye to open

or the sky who’s chased

a small bird into breath

when did i learn that blue

is the planet of our death

4/9/25

can i say i love you

when there's no shore in sight

when mystery only mystery

may be all that survives

4/8/25

they feed the dead a cold sun :: we in the black beret

4/7/25

when you grow up i will have been so many years risen from the dead

why has the statue missing one hand :: chosen this morning to speak

4/6/25

when the moon is ripe :: why doesn't it fall from its tree

all night long knowing and not knowing the figure asleep on the shore

4/5/25

i showed her where i fell home :: she showed me the scar she left on the sky

4/2/25

every first sunrise preserves my belief :: 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....

3/30/25

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 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

2/10/25

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