January 2020 Free Little Poetry + Poems

Am I dreaming?
Is this a dream?
I feel like The Little Prince
on his tiny planet
with the magical
red flower.
If there is such a thing
as heaven, this is it.
Worlds of beloved books
brought to life.
Treasured dreams
tumbled into from the
bedtime story page
to the stardust world.
Young lives outdoors
in these living books
before the phone screens
take over.
The elixir of happiness:
book stories, plus nature,
plus young lives
coming alive to the
life of the world.
A leaf held aloft
with the joyful cry,
“This is my favorite tree!”

Morning rush is sun
Rising over rock vista –
to kiss dark away.
Ancient boulders crouch
Clinging to majestic cliff,
Poised to take flight.
They wait still, so still –
When no one looks, they take wing
And tell their stories.
Sun, I fly with them
As orange gently tears dark
And color deepens.
Last dark gets darker –
Cold night soft-banished by fire
Lighting mountain top.
Deep glow turns to blaze
As valley unfolds herself –
Boulder flings off cliff.

Can man create perfection?
Almost.

In an urban center,
Asia finds its way into
the hearts of kingdoms.

Cicadas buzz + chaff
to the background chorus
of water gurgling over rock.

Bold squirrels laden with gold
approach to trade their wares.

Dragonfly speedsters draw
unknown geometries in
peripheral sight.

Black swallowtail beauties
dance duets in mid-air,
climbing + diving
among perennial pines.

And always the music
of the water from
every side.

Greening the greens of
every hue dotted with
sheening bronze pine
needles.

The breeze moves gently –
the barest whisper.

And strollers actually breathe.

Inhaling the stillness,
the balance,

Rock,
Water,
Green,
Insect,
Squirrel,
Breeze,
Music,
People,

Harmonic kingdoms as one
singing symphony.

Exhaustion blurring our vision,
we almost drifted off the road
as we rounded the turn
on first of its kind.

A glowing peak,
so tall,
so filling the sky,
so almost out of the range of our sight,
so still, so quiet, so alive,
it literally caught the breath
and kept it there.

Glowing electric white
against the darkest, deepest blue-purple
the world could see,
Twilight Peak surprised
in its total solitude.

Hidden in the curves,
stealth over Durango,
invisible on the map,
so unexpected, it made me tear.

As we stopped in wonder
in a dangerous way
on a curve that no one would
travel that late at night,

A shooting star –
massive, almost in front of the car,
electric bluish-white,
filling the window –
literally seemed to hit the road
not 30 feet away.
Impossible to understand or process.

In all our travels,
we had never experienced
our breath stolen away.
Words failing.

Mama swell,
wrap us in your
shawl of stars. 

Papa earth,
plant our feet in
solid ground. 

Sister stream,
sweep us in the
slip of your stones. 

Brother fire,
forge us in the
light of your flickering face. 

The embers’
trace across
the sky. 

Burning blaze
of remembered
nights. 

Embroidered in
silvered trails
of galaxy pavanes. 

Etching our
history along
the vault of time. 

Arching our breath
through the hearths
of heavenly halls.

WE WISH that our mothers had taught us to
Be in Our Heart,
that we had been able to witness in them
the truth that
Compassion Transforms,
that we could discover in our relating
what could happen
If We Both Said Yes,
the warming womb of hearts twinned in
Tender Loving Care.

WE WISH that our fathers had given us the
freedom to
Be Surprised,
the space to
Be Curious,
the confidence to
Say Hello,
the power of living love if we had ever seen them
and our mothers
Hold Hands.

WE WISH our schools had taught us to
Listen to Understand,
had gifted us with the art to
Start a Conversation,
had the wisdom to guide us to
Ask a Question not just to hear ourselves talk
or to prove how smart we were,
but to gain the grace to
Listen a Little Longer.

WHAT IS is the reality that
There is Another Way – the
Here and Now,
Above and Below,
As Above, So Below –
A truth so basic,
yet so many would say,
“I Never Thought of It That Way.” 

WHAT IS is that we came to learn for ourselves
through the travels of living life outside
the walls that
It’s the Little Things
that can reveal the great and grandeur.

WHAT IS is that we grew to know for ourselves through
wandering childhood deserts to
Err on the Side of Love,

to guide our being with the empathy of asking,
Is it True? Is it Necessary? Is it Kind?
in our thoughts and words and actions.

WHAT IS is that we witnessed the change in light when
we were brave to
Smile at Someone Who Might Not Smile Back,
that we came to be the spiritual balm whose
song is
“May All Things Be Happy and Free”,
like beautiful birds on a wire
who need not be named, so pure as to
be
Untitled,
singing the searching souls to the
Keyways
that let us in to
WHAT IS.

I always felt more at home when I wasn’t in America.
Citizen of the world –
Citizen of nowhere.
Try on languages
like bejeweled peacock masks sparkling in the light –
Sapphire blue, emerald green, autumn gold.
“Your job is to bring the world back…”
Maybe to someday be able to bring Truth back.
But home is home.
Neither out there nor in here –
but both.
A seed of light – 
expanding and expanding – 
building itself into a neverending song of Beauty.