morning moment

rain

coming in sideways

won't end for a day or two

bleak

mother bends down low

eye to eye

under bright umbrellas

smiles

shares a laugh

with her girls.

Post Hiatus Blessings

hey god bless you

may you have a most serene

and peaceful day

and some fun.

rejoice that you are not dead

and remember to not let 

the hard days win.

derecho

smouldering mounds of hay

damp from today's "minor storm"

...a major storm ripped through

about a week ago

twenty minutes of destruction

120 year old barns gone - all gone

horses wander around

no warm stall tonight

trees raining down

twisting metal

crumpling bricks

puncturing houses

early morning chainsaws

a grave poem

quick drive

no more than three minutes

quick walk

down to her mother's grave

she goes everyday after school

everyday? everyday.

sometime its a short visit

pluck out a few weeds

a "love you mom"

and home

other times

its a lingering lawn chair sit

a one way graveside monologue

a wave of guilt

when the seeping cold, 

mosquitoes, or a steady drizzle

sends her away

    my brother is dead

    he's resting under a stone lamb

    west of town

    I've never gone

         maybe it is time

dawn poem

light blue morn

time for temple dog walk

slight glimmering rain

to the east a dayspring sun

cutting low over the fields

to the west double rainbow

high in the forest sky

night poem

cold night air

coming in steady

cross temple breeze

rattling doors

waking tired monks

Waits - a quick response

rain and window rattling wind
best to keep sleeping

the Waits records silently spins

 - The Square Corner got me thinking. 

red-tailed hawk

The scene:

 

mated couple of ditch water ducks

flock of geese picking remnant corn

a clutch of turkey hens

The action:

from far above  - a red-tailed hawk

diving down

last microsecond correction

soars past these brother birds

plucks a fat field mouse 

in a quick talon take

requiem for my forest

I don't want to talk about it

it is a hard heavy loss

 - the forest is gone

torn up -  manicured

slopped to drain away the swamp

trails, trees, the little puddle pond

that would freeze for winter skates

today I sit

look out over pools, hot tubs

garage full of beamers

a kid staring back at me

through a black metal fence

trees fall

I'm in the forest

thinking

another tree has fallen

crash smashed

through ancient fence

splintering century old cedar rails

stop  - turn back down the trail

out behind the shed

stack of forgotten rails

carry them back to the forest

shore up what is broken

Comment from 2017

Comment from 2017

"Shame on you.

You should be praying nonstop
like my Pops who's a priest
in Nigeria, working hard
for the salvation of human kind...
not spending your time on poetry.
Shame on you.
Jesus, gave mercy on his soul."

shame...sure, but not from poetry

my poems are non-stop prayers

connecting to God

connecting to you...my anonymous friend

connecting to your father priest

firing off even more mercy, blessings,

instant forgiveness, kindness

prayers

of salvation, love, peace, 

redemption in a new world

humanity singing a new song

...poetry is the work brother

blue note book poems

i)

little book tucked

back pocket deep

40 lost poems

ii)

two novices paddle past

moments from great learning

cats hate canoes

iii)

welcome to our campsite

bottle of Off, mosquito coils

covered in morning frost

iv)

early fall fire crackles

smoke through hemlock boughs

pinecones snap

v)

peanut butter smores melt

marshmallow erupts  - burns

drips over monk robes

vi)

grass is long - damp

flattened in a trail

to log pile edge

vii)

meal remnants sit

hardening kimchi fried rice

empty soju bottles clink

viii)

driveway basketball thunder

real thunder along the seaway

monk settles on porch

ix)

axe shatters...splatters

through rotten deck wood

monk cuts new board

x)

old Zellers work shirt

worn steel toe boots

flat pencil in baseball brim

xi)

fire wards off late spring snow

four finger single malt pour

wards off heavy day

two notebook poems

i)

country music played background low

faint gunshots echo from the forest edge

 - wild turkey season opening day - 

morning fire crackles, kettle whistles

tired monk ponders earl grey poems

ii)

loose under sink pipe

dirty dish water surge

quick tool box search 

finds a  spanner wrench

and a lost notebook

of summer poems

birds

wet open buggy swale

this spring the bats will feast

tonight hoot owls soar

snatching up mice, voles, rabbits

ducks float

hidden down deep in the ditch

eating a fallen burger bun

tom turkey -  tail aloft

gathering up his lovely hens

 - a coyote watches from the forest hill

bent necked songbird - dead

kicked along a cracked city sidewalk

double back demon

the demon

walks up the street

rattles the gate

looks for loose fence boards

all secure

moves on

looking back 

a few times

the tired monk sweeps

watches the road

he's back 

same demon

different hat

different hoodie

walking in slow

from the other direction

the tired monk sweeps

watches the road

the demon curses

peace

once upon a time

the tired monk was not tired

   knew peace

no anxiety attack hangovers

drenched in cortisol and liquor

just riding a cheap BMX bike 

down cow trails

my dog keeping pace

deep tree solitude.

no internet

no "smart" phone

no "social" media

no government work...

need to focus...or not focus

breathe 

at times just think nothing

a monk of do nothing

backyard Kerouac

guitar chords

pushing through 

frosty Hemlock boughs.

 - this one is a mess...but it was written over two days, in two very different states of mind.

Peace.

some animals

moose family

breaking from the trees

down the icy slope

through lashing snow

to the one open creek

drink deep

wild turkey flock gathers

fly up one by one

filling field edge trees

as the sun sets

Coyote...wolf...?

not sure...he's big.

lifts his head 

like any farm dog

smelling the west wind

deer stays put

huddled up 

in thick pine boughs

story

 tell me a story

 - a true one

sure, embellish it a bit please

but keep it rooted down deep

in authentic moments

I'm done with tattered tales

pulling out of threadbare seams

binder twine and wires won't do

no more of "the narrative"

just a narrative

for this old tired monk

"social" media meditation

they got their knives out

slashing clever tweets 

of nasty nasty discord

the whole platform

is a wood splitting maul

a vicious cold metal wedge

trees fall

logs split

frozen splinters fly

all over illuminated screens

Cheyenne

I'm not even here.

I'm in Cheyenne Wyoming

 well not far from there

here is chaos

lies, blood on the floor

I'm out in a mountain pass

dusting of snow

horses in the distance

here is entropy

boarded up windows

dust

coffee boils over a campfire

an elk jumps over 

a semi frozen stream

here is neglect

a broken guitar in the corner

shards of glass

Cheyenne

Cheyenne

Cheyenne...

carpentry

thick carpentry textbooks

15 in total

dusty

stack of seven

stack of eight

the perfect angle 

to prop youtube projector

heavy secrets

secrets....got em.

yeah deep

not even in my body

much much deeper

tethered to a ghost chain

dragged along

anchors through earth

secrets yeah

sometime they jump

from their graves

land hard 

on my robed shoulders 

secrets held

at bay

with single malt whiskey, strong beer,

prayers, poems, punches,

music

heavy secrets.

Post Script - Philosophically I'm anti-secret and pro-surprise.

Breathe In...

 breathe

you are ok

cool mountain air 

fills your lungs

pine scented

damp with creek mist

you are okay

exhale

street crow

something is wrong with that crow

he's crazy

he's lazy

he's garbage fat

walking slow up the street

crow wanders through the ditches

up into the neatly lined pines

scratchy footprints in the snow

leading under the chain fence

in behind a rotten tree stump

not crazy, lazy, or fat

he's just dying

one day

one day I'll ask my body to move

   and it won't

my mind will still move

out over the lakes, marshes, tall pine trees

up north through the rugged valley

up the highest peak

to a most vivid view

of the last dayspring moment