The 100 most recent posts
Frozen Home - Drifting
In a sea of calm
Warm vibrance
Descends on the horizon
Belies the heat
And intensity
Of a glaring sun
Just departed
Its light dwindling
For the moment
Only a thin sliver of hope
Graces the sky
Soon enough
The stars
The constellations
The galaxies
As the grand parade
Of existence
Once again
Fills the cosmos
Freezing ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #262 - The freeze is coming
Soon will river ice over
You below the ice
Ice ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #261 - His was a visage of ice
Cold, chiseled
A frosty burn to the touch
Which not even the fire
Of his desire
Could melt
It protected him
It destroyed him
It hardened him
It betrayed him
For anyone could see
Just below the surface
The heat his coldness
Would never emit
The Calm After - Drifting
In a sea of calm
Warm vibrance
Descends on the horizon
Belies the heat
And intensity
Of a glaring sun
Just departed
Its light dwindling
For the moment
Only a thin sliver of hope
Graces the sky
Soon enough
The stars
The constellations
The galaxies
As the grand parade
Of existence
Once again
Fills the cosmos
The Promise - There is a promise in the road
Not a destination
Every place I may want to go
Is a waypoint
On the way to another point
Neither the journey
What is to be gained
From moving
For the sake of movement
But once the wheels
Begin to roll
Changes begin
The promise manifests
What I see; How I think; Who I am
Future ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #260 - Hither I leave
This valley of death
And I will fear no future
For I bear not the past
Carry only hope, and my staff
Tenacity
Diminished - Your light dims
Now a moon
Which was once
The sun
And in your eyes
I see you know
Can feel the shadow
Falling on your spirit
Confused as you are
By confusion
Where once you knew
Clarity
As time and mind
Slip away from you
So too do you
Slip away from me
Morning’s Welcome - The sun crests the sea
In the light I see
The beacon stayed true
To guide us through
The darkling pass
We navigated
The long night
To morning's welcome
This new shore
Beckoning
A Nearby Star - Perched on a mossy cliffside
Basking in the warmth
Of a nearby star
The scents of sea
And conifers
Carried on the breeze
While I
Close my eyes
Breathe in
All of existence
Gathered in a moment
Curvature of the Earth - I remind myself
That this Earth
Is but a small globe
Spinning and spinning
In infinite space
And I no more than a mote
A sprinkling of star dust
Coalesced in flesh and bone
Which one day woke up
Asking questions about
The universe and itself
Is there more than that?
I may never know
Perhaps I simply forgot
Hope ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #259 - I remember a day
When our star burned
Bright and hot
In the cold, crisp air
Delightful frolics
While the clouds softened
Saw blade peaks
Rather than coat the sky
With remorseful grey
Like today
I remember a better day
And another to come
A future memory known not
By prescience nor forecast
Only, hope
Patience and Peace - I remind myself
Time and water
Carved this canyon
From solid rock
Though patience
And softness
Cannot resolve
Every problem
The peace flowing
From their practice
Bears a reward
Of its own
As I watch
The sun set
Upon the stone
The river cut
The Greatest Gift - On this day of giving and receiving
The greatest gift
Whether given or received
Is no different
Than any other day
Love
The Maze - I was already deep inside
And lost
Before I realized it was a
Maze
But there are times
Places
To not mind being
Lost
The walls seemed sculpted
Textured
With saturated tones of
Warmth
And so I walked
Aimless
Lost in the beauty of the
Walls
Until suddenly I was
Outside
Safe, yet wanting to go
Back
Sometimes it is
OK
To lose my
Self
Beauty ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #258 - There is beauty
In all things
Even death
To understand this
Is to master life
To master life
One must master death
Landscapes - These things we do to landscapes
Of space and time
Of politics and social norms
Of family and friends
The things that stay
But never stay the same
The ephemeral things
Lost and soon forgotten
Nothing ever stays
But change
Which is often the point
Of these things we do to landscapes
Change the landscape
Change each other
Change ourselves
Cloud Cover - The band of ominous cloud
Hovered over the highway
Mile after mile
An oppressive weight
Waiting to fall
My mood became dark as the sky
So I chose to see the low grey cover
As an atmospheric parasol
A gift to soften harsh desert sun
Diminish the heat of afternoon
An invitation to step out of the car
I breathed deeply in the sage-scented air
Until my mood became light as the sage
Drifting on the desert breeze
Instamatic Memory Machine - It was a straight run
Down valley
And at 100 miles an hour
The landscape became a gun barrel
I rifled through
The road was freshly paved
Though heavily pebbled
So the car hummed
As it shimmied in the heavy winds
Here was I
A projectile crossing open country
Which to my being is as good
As being wrapped in a blanket
By a fire on a snowy winter's eve
Road trips are comfort food for my soul
Comfort Food - It was a straight run
Down valley
And at 100 miles an hour
The landscape became a gun barrel
I rifled through
The road was freshly paved
Though heavily pebbled
So the car hummed
As it shimmied in the heavy winds
Here was I
A projectile crossing open country
Which to my being is as good
As being wrapped in a blanket
By a fire on a snowy winter's eve
Road trips are comfort food for my soul
Solitude ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #257 - crisp
cold
wind
sun falls
like a poet's first words
illumination lacking warmth
so I shiver
wrapped in a blanket of silence
broken only by the wind
bending the tall grass
rapt in a solitude
broken only by gulls on the wing
bending the air to their whim
Touching ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #256 - In that blur
Of existence
When space becomes time
And time becomes space
When love becomes all possibility
And possibility infinite
And time timeless
I will find you
And always will
Because this is the thing
Between you and I
The connection without reason
The being without purpose
Except that we are always
Together
Warmth ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #255 - Sometimes I run cold
It's hard to find
The love inside
For me
For you
For anyone
For anything
Then you hold me
Look into my eyes
Show me what love is
You wear your heart
With just a look
So that anyone can see
Even me
In the cold dark blue
Warming to the warmth of you
Bastards - She closed her eyes
Heaved a sigh
Then made the choice
She'd always made
And always would
Don't let the bastards get you down
She whispered
Drew another breath
Don't let the bastards get you down
She said
Drew another breath
Don't let this bastard get you down
She growled
Then held what remained of her breath
Until she could hold it no longer
Then simply let the breath go
And with it went all the bastards
Nightmares ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #254 - Deep in a dream
I see the ghost
Of who I once was
And the ghost
Of who I hoped to be
I awaken
To the phantom
That is who I have become
Bread ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #253 - Observe the beauty of a loaf
The tortured rending of gluten
As the dough expands under heat
Observe the beauty of a woman
The tortured rending of ego
As the gaze exploits under heat
Delicate Intricacies - Through the clouds
Came first a star
Not enough
To break the spell
Of long dark night
But still a light
Come beckoning
Then soon I saw
Another star
Another then
Now several more
The mother bear
Who points the way
To guiding light
Now clears the sky
The night reveals
A sky of lights
Infinite
And always there
Beyond the clouds
Or light of day
The lights of suns
The First Star - Through the clouds
Came first a star
Not enough
To break the spell
Of long dark night
But still a light
Come beckoning
Then soon I saw
Another star
Another then
Now several more
The mother bear
Who points the way
To guiding light
Now clears the sky
The night reveals
A sky of lights
Infinite
And always there
Beyond the clouds
Or light of day
The lights of suns
Opening ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #252 - Doors shut and barred
Windows sealed from within
A dead end
At the end
Of a narrow
Corridor
No retreat
No respite
No redress
Then a door opened
Beckoning
The voices within
Sang songs of hope
And possibility
Of healing
And renewal
Beyond the door
The way remained unclear
But the long, dark night
Of the alley
Was over
Crawling Into A Hole - A nook
An alcove
A cranny
A safe place
To hide away
While the unthinkable
Becomes inevitable
Anachronism - When the architecture
Makes a passenger jet
Lifting into the sky
Seem like an anachronism
From a time passed
So very long ago...
Mathematics ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #251 - The mathematics
Of my conscious mind
Can be so very much more
Ruthless
Than nature's organic expressions
The subtle calculations
Of an incomprehensible unconscious
Little wonder
We have become such an affliction
On an incalculable beauty
Fluttering - She fluttered an eyelash
Yes, just the one
Not a wink
But a feathery whisper
Undetectable
To those not seeking it
As she knew I was
And my heart replied
With a flutter of its own
A quickening
Which rose to my flesh
Undetectable
To those not seeking it
As I knew she was
Emptiness - Of all the hardships
Created by the pandemic
It was the emptiness
Of time and space
Which nearly did him in
The connectionless void
In which the bump of elbows
Became an act of intimacy
Which made a smile detectable
Only by a gesture of the eyes
So he filled the emptiness
With the one thing left to him
Love
Fear ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #250 - The maw which devours me
Consumes my will
My strength
Is naught but the workings
Of my fearful mind
I breathe
Speaking the words
Over the chatter of thoughts
Breathing in
Breathing out
Arc Tanget - Tangential touch
Love comes around
Sweeping arcs
Now come to ground
Skyward leaps
There heaven bound
Rise ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #249 - In the darkness
A rosette
Neither portal
Nor beacon
A reminisce
A reminder
Of the light
Beyond darkness
Rosette ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #248 - In the darkness
A rosette
Neither portal
Nor beacon
A reminisce
A reminder
Of the light
Beyond darkness
Centre ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #247 - I seek my centre
The source of light and being
Where darkness is not feared
But embraced with love and gratitude
For the insights it reveals
When accepted as a gift
Thorns ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #246 - I revel
In asymmetrical symmetry
Seek the imperfectly perfect
For there is no beauty
No moment
No experience worth a memory
Confined to the bounds
Of the expected
Or the predictable
A perfect world
Constructed with ruthless precision
Would be far too mundane
To provide the challenge
Which offers existence
Meaning
Symmetry ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #245 - I revel
In asymmetrical symmetry
Seek the imperfectly perfect
For there is no beauty
No moment
No experience worth a memory
Confined to the bounds
Of the expected
Or the predictable
A perfect world
Constructed with ruthless precision
Would be far too mundane
To provide the challenge
Which offers existence
Meaning
Nature & Time and Time & Nature - Nature and time
Eat away
At rings
Of hidden time
The history
Kept by nature
Radiance ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #244 - In the ebbing radiance
Of a world slipping into darkness
The light is most vivid
Capable of magiks
Unknown to daylight
On the Supple Application of Power - Stone: Majestic, Formidable, Hard, Weak; Water: soft, supple, tenacious, power. Be unimpressed by the formidable airs of majesty and hard power. Know, instead, the supple tenacity of small things in large numbers, the soft power which tumbles the brittle hardness.
Portal ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #243 - A bridge and long shadows
Span the gorge and river roaring
There a portal offers
Welcome unknowns
In a forest of possibility
Alabaster Fields - Ascend to alabaster fields
Where breezes rustle petal clouds
With their hoards of golden nectar
There to rob the gold
And leave the flowers fallow
Frailty - To frailty
There is a power
Borne of compassion
When compassion fails
Frailty is where the boot comes down
The hardest
Time ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #242 - I often wish
That I could perceive time
Like a hummingbird does
Slow the world down
And watch the air ruffle its feathers
On every delicate beat
Hear the swish of its wing
Rather than the hum and blur
Of time compressed beyond imagining
Star Chamber - Within the chamber
Starry light
Small portals fill
The darkest night
With glow enough
To see my way
Then find again
The light of day
Stone ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #241 - This forest of stone
Rotting on the desert plain
Rain the destroyer
Moonglow - A promise of possibility coming
Here the night made bright
Though by no small trickery
And patience
Moonglow breaks the darkness
While the stars take flight
In the cool blue of winter chill
But for the warmth of amber hearths
The Turn that is not Return - The world begins
To turn again
No longer still
Though somnolent, still
The long exhale
Following the deep, deep breath
The moment which moves
Between the change
And knowing
There is no going
back
Line ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #240 - Such exquisite line
Forms an art without figure
The face of Islam
Winding ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #239 - The road winds down
To valley floor
From there the way
Cannot be known
With scant resource
For alternates
My faith is firm
No other course
Now heart resolved
Courage mustered
With just one step
My fears dissolved
Stovepipe - Stovepipe is a planet of two suns
Rarely seen whole
Through dense clouds
Which never shed rain
The stone marker
A memorial to those who had come
But otherwise left no mark
After the third colony failed
The only visitors would be
Passersby and tourists checking off a box
The Bar & Grill of Passing Thru - It was one of those American small-town off-the-main-attraction tourist bar & grills papered with dollar bills, George Washington in all his unemotional placidity staring back at me from wall, pillar and ceiling. Off-season empty but for a pair of locals playing darts and a couple passing through on the way to somewhere relatives and presents waited for them. It was hard to tell whether the twinkle lights were seasonal or permanent, but there was no other sign of the holiday. So, permanent.
Snake - Power snakes through epochs
Scale lost in time and space
Human stands on canyon edge
diminished
Vagabond ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #238 - To move
Through time and space
By act of will
Undeterred and
Undirected by
Duty or responsibility
Led not by
Leash or force
Nor beholden to another's wish
But to stay
In just one place
So long as restless heart desires this
Then move along
To some place other
There to see what I may find
Linger - Nearly lost
In a palette of greys
The little heron lingers
One-legged in the winter chill
With a meditative peace
I only dream of mastering
Weekends - Sail the slate sea
On friendly breeze
Which powers me
Hold the tiller fast
As grey gulls surf
The unseen wave
Leeward of the mast
And I at peace
In my dead reckoning
Far between the harbours
Of duty and burden
Riding the tide of release
Androgyny Domine - Under androgynous sky
Sun or moon
Father or mother
The camera never lies
But the photographer
Knows how to fib
Pinnacle Obscura - There is a path
To distant peak
Though peak itself
Remains obscure
And should I find
A mountaintop
Who's to say
I find the one
Reserved to some
Refused to those
Who've never known
The pinnacle
Grunge - On every beauty find redress
The film of some small discontent
Such that those who can't possess
May pose desire circumvent
But I this beauty's grunge perceive
Projection of my ego's fear
So let such love that cannot be
Reveal my weakness to be clear
Disturbing Beauty - Many layers deep
The serrated edge cuts
Through the camouflage of bullshit
Reveals a jagged truth
Painful and disturbing
Integrity's challenge
Never are we more beautiful
Than when we conquer
The falsehoods of our fears
Winter Capture - Wind and whitecaps swish about
Sounds as crisp as winter air
My near frostbitten ears select
Imagine gentle warmth
In sunlight's amber hue detect
I linger here
Instead the heated hearth of home
Frigid fingers upon my camera work
Until chill moment captured thus
By an eye that cannot shirk
Out of the Nothingness - Before the sun ever rose
In the time before time
Or consciousness
Or biology
In the infinity of moments passing
Before a moment could be noticed
What choice was there but to be
Though such was not a choice
In the next infinity of moments passing
Before a moment could be valued
What choice was there to be good
What choice was there to be evil
So I wonder if
Somehow
The more we choose to value
The less we choose to be
The more good and evil we create
Out of the nothingness of being
Which preceded time
Transition ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #237 - Departing crippled harbour
As night approaches day
Light fails on near horizon
Transition now at play
Some might say
Dark times ahead
But unknowns
Are not darkness
One hand holds the chalk of light
While the other clears the slate
Upon the dark revealed we write
With clarity our fate
A Present I Still Remember - I remember the litter before "Give a Hoot! Don't Pollute!"
I remember the smog before the Clean Air Act
I remember it sung "the world is a ghetto" all the truer now
Left to wonder how so few can remember
From where we have come
To where we'll return
And where we are stuck
Come - This is not a place for the faint of culture
Or order
Or hygiene
Or poverty
Nonetheless, they should come
This is not a place for those
Who dislike the crush of a crowd
Who want a fresh coat of paint
Or a breath of fresh air
Nonetheless, they should come
This is not a place for those who believe
That people's conditions reflect their choices
That there is one right way to live
Or one way to think
Nonetheless, come
Death of the Narcissist - He erected a balustrade of excuses and lies
A weak defense overcome
By firing rounds of fact
Between the spindly balusters
The entire structure collapsed
Under the weight of culpability
Leaving him, finally, exposed
Had he any integrity at all
Such a rampart may have protected him
Buttressing his image sealed his doom
Blocking Point - I tried to find the words today
But the words would not converge
Themes and thoughts that did emerge
With promise of infinity
Then vanished at a wall
Leaving not a word at all
Instead I wrote this deathly dirge
To writer's block I fall
Freedom ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #236 - She told me why the caged bird sings
She told me of the rage
That the pain creates
How it colours everything
I can't perch where the caged bird sings
But to her fearful trill
Take up harmony
This free bird sings so to keep her wing
I cannot perch where the caged bird sings
But I hear her song
Take up harmony
This free bird sings so to keep her wing
All Details Great and Small - Pristine
Meticulous order
Black chairs on black tables
White chairs on white tables
Perfectly placed
Deliciously spaced
Every detail attended to
Clean lines and sturdy grace
All reflected in polished stone
But later
I notice
A chair is missing
Crumbs scattered on a table
In a lifetime dedicated
To observing the nuances
Of all details great and small
I wonder
What is the larger world
All that I've seen?
Or all that I've seen
But never saw...
Suddenly
The world I know
Seems very small
Being in the Grey - Sometimes I prefer the grey
Shadows can be too dark
Highlights can be too bright
In the grey all is line and texture
I see the form of what is
Without interpreting darkness and light
Breathing the Moment - In an alcove of my mind
Tucked away from memories and desires
I find this moment
Of nothing but breath
The sensation of breathing
Awareness of the necessity
Of nothing but breathing
Breathe in this moment
Breathe out the past
Breathe in this moment
Breathe out the future
Breathe in this moment
Every inhaled breath
Overflows the alcove
Expands into every aspect of mind
Every exhaled breath
Empties the mind
Allowing the moment to flow into it
I breathe
Until all that I am
Is this single moment
A spectacular place to visit… - Architects sometimes
Appeal mostly to mind
No love for the heart
In masterful lines
Don't misunderstand me
Such exquisite abstraction
Just lacking romance
A place to admire
A picture to hang
But to live there no chance
Mouse & Cat - It's cat and mouse
The endless game
Which we all play
Except the days
The cat's away
When's not the same
Around the house
Now should you stay
Here on this day
Might we not pray
The time has come
For mouse and cat
To mellow some
And end this spat
Rant ! Pic and a Word Challenge #235 - "It's like it's Earth but it's not Earth"
She shook a little with her distress
Speaking between tightened lips
Just barely containing a primal scream
"I don't mind the old-Earth tenements
Their utilitarian simplicity
But why does every other building
Have to look like the cover
Of an Arthur C. Clarke paperback
Couldn't we come up with
A more interesting 'future'
Than one dreamed up by hack illustrators
Over two centuries ago"
Jinessa was just getting started
When she goes full rant
You can either cower and exit
Or saddle up and ride it for the eight count
I struggled to get a foot in the stirrup
As her exasperation rose
My Favourite House - Inside God's House
Awed by the ode
In the company of worshipers
Some for God
Some for his house
But I think on it
And in the reflect I see
I prefer Love's House
Which is any house
Where there's you and me
On the Finer Points of the Grandiose - I like to imagine a society
Which would erect such grand monuments
Only after the eradication of
Poverty
Inequity
Subjugation
Though I rather imagine such a society
Would have little interest
In erecting such grand monuments
Perhaps such a society
Would be too busy building
On its commitment to
Love
Compassion
Generosity
Tears - Tears flow golden
Down her cheek
Then fall to ground
Where forms a pool
From gentle creek
There streams and rivers
Come to rest
Display the sorrows
Which some detest
"Wait for the facts
You can't protest!"
What have we
But video
And patterns written
Long ago
To actions spoken
Our words will out
If some won't listen
Justice shouts
Hollowed Halls - Beneath the stone of arcing hollow
Echo footfalls of the hallows
Seep through time long silenced whispers
Fall on ears inclined to listen
Bishops under Cardinals
Princes of the capital
Too all manner of celebrity
Still I prefer simplicity
Whose condition leaves them most to gain
While every pittance rendered unto greedy hand
Far too much where hope of sustenance is lain
Yet they, it ever seems, offer most without demand
Dimming Light - The light which skylight glass admits
Be grey and dour as such the day commits
While just as dim our life in quarantine submits
Then random seem the ones for whom disease remits
Their darkest hour
To bed confined
For none the power
To stall the march of death's decline
And so alone
Souls pass away
While not a hand
Is offered they
But latex glove
The touch at end of earthly stay
First Responders - She strode from the chaos
With an extraordinary self-possession
Intent on some minor stain or damage to her frock
As if all that mattered in this world
Was her appearance in it
It was impossible to know
If her composure reflected disoriented shock
Or disdain for the physical danger
She had not yet entirely escaped
Until she let the hem fall down her thigh
Turned her attention toward her destination
Function Tags Along - Form follows function
The prophet, Sullivan, preached
Writing the gospel of
Purpose Informs Art
On landscapes and city streets
Ah, sighs Calatrava
And erects his Mona Lisa smile
Its contrarian pulse
The blood flowing through Valencia's veins
As form takes flight
With function on its wing
I revel in dreamy whimsy
With purpose in the wake
Presence ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #234 - We didn't come here
For the beer
Or the snacks
Or to share a cigarette
Once we'd finished those
It wasn't for the words we'd speak
Or to look into each other's eyes
(You never took off your sunglasses)
To see or be seen
Or for a breath of fresh city air
In the chill afternoon
Leaving The Grey Between - We are these incredible creatures
Of both darkness and light
We keep buried so very deeply
So we might never know how full
Is the pain of our despair
Or the beauty of our spirit
Or the strength we might show
If we could but release ourselves
From the grey we have created
To keep the best of ourselves
And the worst of ourselves
Beneath the skin
Beneath our consciousness
Beyond our capacity
To love
Before… - Before the sky
The peaks
Before the peaks
The hills
Before the hills
The valley
Before the valley
I must leave
This place of numbing
Before I die
In the Hollows - Branches of darkness
Reach out for me
But I resist
If only just
Still...
That is enough
To stave the pain
In this hollow I've carved out
From tendrils of deepest sorrow
I find resolve to carry on
Deep Valley - Azure the lake
Azure the sky
Then in between
The verdigris
And igneous
Within them all
Find I
