Rise to the top
It’s that the many
Are beaten down
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
To understand this
Is to master life
To master life
One must master death
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
An oppressive weight
Waiting to fall
My mood becomes dark as the sky
Until I realize the low grey cover
Provides an atmospheric parasol
A gift to soften harsh desert sun
Diminish the heat of afternoon
An invitation to step out of the car
I breathe deeply in sage-scented air
While my mood becomes effervescent
As sage drifting in the desert breeze
I have to admit
To some minor or major
Moments of fascination
Or delight
Or longing
Emotion moving my core
With some rekindled
Long-forgotten moment
Or chapter
In a life becoming much too long
To hold all the memories
Within my mind alone
A birthday card
A letter written but never sent
Elementary report cards
And aptitude test results
A story I’d written
With misshapen letters
And a child’s innocence
A Dragnet drama
Starring a detective snake
Age eight
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
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
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
Whether far apart
Or side-by-side
Decades may pass
Without a touch
Though we are always
Touching
In the end
That is all we need know
About the unknowable
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