Under the Weighted Light (from the journal)

Hidden at the rest stop

gingko’s leaves appear on the ground

yellow in the cold yellow sun.  11-20-13

Soft from the frost,

bleached by the night air,

gingko’s little wrinkled persimmons,

soft between my fingers.  11-20-13

The sun.

It didn’t forget me all these months—

maple’s shadows on my face, my hands, my eyes.  11-20-13

Lemon with the last bit of color,

honeysuckles under the blue sky.

All the red berries.  11-23-13

Flowing down from the sun,

the cloud river with wisps

teased up by the moving light.  11-23-13

When I was gone

hickory lost all her golden leaves.

Greenbrier holds on to one,

her own, round as the sun.   11-23-13

Watery sun

over the gray wood.

It’s enough for all.  11-25-13

 

One more leaf

floating down on light.

I memorize how it’s done.  11-25-13

Is life enough?

In the sun it is.  11-25-13

Sitting here in love,

                      in sun,

                      your breath

                      filling me

                      with warmth.  11-25-13

In winter warm oak leaf light,

honeysuckles leaves ret,

curl by curl.  11-26-13

Waiting

like hickory in the rain

arms outstretched,

waiting for breath.  11-26-13

I opened the window

and the light poured in—

thin, dry, sticking to everything.  11-27-13

Hey sky, call me harder.

It’s dark in this room.

I can’t smell your heart.

There’s a cloud in the way.  12-3-13

It’s me, front and center.

Sun’s pupil waiting for moments,

illuminated moments.  12-4-13

A Sun Poem

Moving across seas of thought,

the holy one, one.  12-4-13

Breath, mind,

sunlight on my eyelashes.

Mind breathing light,

the other breath.  12-4-13

The light of first snow changes everything—

everywhere lightfall,

everywhere the quiet sound of light falling.  12-8-13

You walked backwards to meet me,

changed hands, stole my pen,

littered my heart with your laughter,

the sea blue eyes that listened.

And then I took it back,

my pen, to write the letters,

all the letters from my hand to yours,

one heart between.  12-8-13

The tinkling ice one day.

The quiet snow the next.

Beauty filling up the spaces between my thoughts

as vertical as the unmoving trees.  12-10-13

The only warm light this cold morning

is the yellow light passing through

honeysuckle’s last leaves.  12-11-13

Here,

under the black stripe of sky.

Above, the bright stripe filled with sun.

Here, below

dwelling in love,

a place of my choosing,

Here, just here.  12-11-13

Will it be repaired?

Will the sun melt a new skin

on the broken snowflakes?

Will the sigh be heard? 

Will the blue sky reach the heart again?  12-12-13

 

At Dawn   (for George Garvin)

It came again,

red and its own reflection.

Burned away thought

and left the cold air on fire 
and me breathing the light.  12-13-13

Under the blue spruce

in a dry spot,

snow falling,

two deer resting on the needles,

chewing their cud, ears forward.  12-14-13

The sun is skipping light

across the snow to my eyes this morning,

the concentric ripples of touch felt

but not seen on the crusty snow.  12-15-13

In the bright sun, me on one side of the window,

warm, yellow honeysuckle leaves on the other side,

all of us in a light which is never irrelevant,

warm or cold.  12-15-13

Remembering,

you caught the door.

Our eyes meet. 

You haven’t quite forgotten me yet.  12-15-13

The red one in the holly calls,

“Do you remember me?  I miss your thoughts,

the sound of your pen on paper,

your long glances, your sighs.  I miss you.

The light is still here on my feathers, on my eyes.

Your light, too.  Come.”   12-16-13

Pushing its way in,

the sun has left no space for me to move.

I sit in the swirl.  12-28-13

The coldest morning of the year.

After the coldest night of the year.

Quiet, save for the furnace.  1-7-14

Between the horizontal tree shadows,

The sun finds me in warmth, your warmth.  1-8-14

The arctic air withdrawn,

robin comes in its wake,

holly berries to be eaten.  1-9-14

Will you come then?

Will you sit by me?

Will you let me walk into your sea blue eyes

on a warm sunny day when I need to float free?  1-9-14

The dark and the rain

cannot overcome last summer’s glow

coming off the bed of orange oak leaves

swelling with memories and scent.  1-11-14

Bareness

waving up, waving down.

The light, the rain, the rising air,

rising.  1-11-14

 

January fell slowly without words,

colorless snowflakes through colorless light

moved only by my breath

warm with anticipation.  1-21-14

Hoping for words.

They could come up like trees,

one cell at a time under the weighted light,

with enough breath.  Mine, yours.  2-8-14

What would there be then if not for peace—

hickory’s graceful cascading curves,

the milk gray sky that comes down to the eye,

love that rises like bubbles after the sheeting rain,

the last of last year’s leaves pointing down to

a future not embraced,

just yet.  2-9-14