Puppy streaks through fields
pounces pokes stops starts spins
mirrors inner worlds

frosty morning sun
glass bowl filled with ripened fruit
pear splits open, weeps

blustery evening
God's breath shadows the full moon
seeking the holy

door slightly ajar
creaks in the windy darkness
souls whisper, beckon

inviting the "No"

horses run off
dance on my chest
thundering hooves threaten
throat coat removed

Like a Bird on the Wire

The elephant strode into the room;
round crystal weights
shifting
from piano
to coffee table;
pencils scribbling on walls,
the sound of breaking glass
striking notice that
things
were
no longer.

I fell into a dream of you,
could not replace the shingles
on the roof of our house
that blew off with your anger.

Yesterday
I remembered
how tall you were;
how small
the trees became
the way the robins still sang.

flood filled winter fields
black cat prowls waters dark edge
springs into moonlight

I'm still here

We carry your love
on our tongues
in our veins
feel the force
stirring beneath the surface
of the tea we drink in your name.
We carry your love
across time and space
(England,
Ferndale,
Lopez,
Alaska)
smile in the memory
of your rhythmic words:
"The Nose Pinching Stench
of the Humpback Whale."

Sometimes, though,
walking home
alone
in the dark,
soggy leaves underfoot,
blackened streets
glistening in dense
diffuse moonlight,
I see again the doctor's eyes:
grey-blue and unfathomable,
your cry crawls back
into my chest,
rises up
as if from the grate
where rain disappears
gallons at a time:

"My family.
What will I tell
my family?"

After the service

Out the window
rain blew in
on the breath of God,
torrential,
hurricane force,
no longer the quiet acceptance
my heart had nourished.

You, too, fell from the heavens
not one drop but a thousand
million
gazillion
pieces of you
resurrected from all the rivers
created by our tears;
lifted from the seas
our fears had sown;
bringing forth
glory
and connectedness,
erasing
the pain
of being one with.

At the window's edge
In the heartbeat of that moment,
finally free
to cross over
into your
refracted reflection,
I inhaled the essence of you,
released
my bated winter breath,
watched our commingled droplets
unleashed
upon the lush
and fertile land
of the not yet forgotten.

life after death

winds lean into frost
carry freed seeds across fields
some flourish again