Sunday, December 15, 2013

healthy children, reading
& waiting in Sunday pajamas
for French toast

a stranger's fresh grief
flows freely with awareness
of beauty and gratitude

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

partially found poem

how the internet is like a human heart:
it is a giant machine designed
to give people what they want

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

make time for truth
and do not rue
for there is no end

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

photo courtesy of NASA




can't stop remembering today
fear on the futon, life in my belly
death all around

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

do not be lured down the path
you have already turned from;
walk with purpose in your true life

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

unexpected teaching:
tree and lampost reach together
toward heaven

Monday, September 2, 2013

these appointments approaching ours
are both inconsequential
and of supreme importance

Friday, August 30, 2013

a poet's death reminds me -
do not waste time.
every step matters

Thursday, August 29, 2013

sometimes the best thing you can do
is something
for yourself

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

love is not perfect
but it can be
just right

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

a return to stretching may
have an added surprise ~
you are farther along than you realized

Friday, August 23, 2013

it's too easy to be glitter eyed
by image glut, so
close your eyes

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Yetzer Ha'Rah

the predictable return of worry
and compromise is an invitation
to motivation inclination
in the rain of paper hearts
we screamed and sang and danced
a memory into being

Saturday, August 17, 2013

through dark slats
awaiting your return
to this learning place

Friday, August 16, 2013

Coleman Barks reading Rumi


Thursday, August 15, 2013

sometimes we'd rather live
in less vulnerable skin,
but good work is a salve

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

cultivate calm acceptance
of multiplicity in coping
with multiplicity

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

a moment spent
on love is
always worthwhile

Monday, August 12, 2013

a grateful heart can cure
a soul's ailments and increase
lovingkindness for us all

Sunday, August 11, 2013

hearty focus and uncertainty
can live together
until the harvest season

Friday, August 9, 2013

Transition

passage from one state, stage, subject, or place to another
a movement, development, or evolution from one form or style
an abrupt change in energy state or level  

Thursday, August 8, 2013

struggle no longer with your potential ~
have the courage to be fully human
and have the gift of everything

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

forgiveness yet God
first can love and
light Divine

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

prune for future blooms
feed the soil that's there
protect with careful mulch
plans in our heads
are only that until our hearts
and hands pitch in

Sunday, July 28, 2013






insomnia is a peacock
in full tail, fenced in
by chicken wire

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

for every baby, everywhere

on this day, you are
joyously welcome into this world ~
may you be long-lived and glorious

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

differentiating between needs
and wants, both
daunting and necessary

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

last night in New York --
Chinese food
summer storm

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Chaos

state of confusion or disorder
lack of intelligible pattern
nonlinear behavior
disorderly mass or jumble
system with sensitive dependence
a chasm or abyss

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Last Night

In between traffic noise and unseen neighbors' conversation holy wind in holy leaves sing. Reflections rise up and rival views of vines and cedars as low clouds swift over in luminous lovingkindness. Sparks grace the spaces left among what remains unsaid. This mountain dares us to reach our rough hands into mystery. Hello. Goodbye. Peace.

Friday, June 28, 2013

to discover your needs have been met
by one who loved you before
is a blessing

Sunday, June 23, 2013

sometimes pulling back
is the kindest way
to love

Friday, June 21, 2013

an extra day of rest
in hope of healing
as time winds down

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

eternal combustion
in this city of metaphors
and lost cobbles

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

maybe it turns
go up, cross over
and then that becomes

Sunday, June 16, 2013

painful swallowing
does not prevent
nourishment from entering

Friday, June 14, 2013

search your own stories
for what needs to be told
and tell it

Friday, June 7, 2013

return to this green valley --
our faulty connection will be irrelevant
once the queen arrives

Friday, May 31, 2013

fortune is random
but relative blessing
can be cultivated

Thursday, May 30, 2013

street fortune
didn't realize
that's where he went
 

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

emboldened
but now no one knows
-- it is just there
brown sugar and fig
dark mark moleskin
vintage rooted wave

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

surviving ghosts reside
in the delicate corners
of your eyes

Monday, May 27, 2013

he thought he got his message across
in the innocuous ways
people communicate

Friday, May 24, 2013




1981, unknown location
courtesy of Pat Cook/YouTube

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

ever closer, delicate sounds
of love and survival
shimmer above the street

Monday, May 20, 2013

recovered diamonds shimmer
in our united eyes, fallen
from the world to come

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

attending our reception
loving minds apparent as history
and possibilities are united

Thursday, May 9, 2013



the art of possibilities
surface under hinges
apparent scuffs deserted

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

subtleties emerge
from the haze of wants
vast vista

much will hinge
below the surface
it would truly mean to be

a partner
a focused moment of evolution
unexpectedly significant

if you want
you must speak
or act

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

anything but clarity
on the night you did not see me
but I was lost in you
new leaves
flicker
in a clear breeze

Monday, May 6, 2013

in the fall of an evening
wind, birds, emerging stars
sprinkle our dreams with kindness

Sunday, April 28, 2013

old friends are clear
crisp water --
easy to fall into

Saturday, April 27, 2013

we are alone
without a fire, watching
a game that's already been lost

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

in my pocket
I had the magic number
but you did not ask

Saturday, April 20, 2013

photo by M. Leder







as sad as it is
to miss a first bloom
there are worse fates

Thursday, April 18, 2013

willful lies in service of profits
endanger innocent lives ~
hope, and work to stop them

Sunday, April 14, 2013

we have all fallen --
every alarm echoes
in our wailing hearts, bereft

Saturday, April 13, 2013

if you tend where I've been cut
with your kind look
gladness will rise

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

are you hiding in anonymous numbers?
nimble as we are, we wonder
without end, lost in the seam

Monday, April 8, 2013

siren song blusters through murky air
a kaddish calling burnt souls home
to a higher sphere of sapphire

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

the dream you sent signals
the beginning of new time
in the land of sky stretching
vine laden trees bloom
and sway in sandy winds -
a new day is near

Monday, March 25, 2013

For Pesach

our hearts smoke as we gaze
toward hills that rise
above the haze of waiting waters

tonight our doors are open
harsh ties that bind us are cut
we search among the sand

familiar songs and favorite foods
signal that we have come far
and that we are always at the beginning

released and releasing
remembered and remembering
in every state, grateful

to our heroes and the unnamed
who before us laid places
around this long, long table

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

if you hide too long
it will be harder to come out
when you want to

Thursday, March 7, 2013

"Kind" by Gretchen Primack

Gretchen & I were MFA students together at Brooklyn College. She's a very fine poet and a passionate advocate for animal rights, so I'm happy to share the link below to a self-interview she's done as part of the The Next Big Thing Project about her upcoming book of poems, "Kind."

Gretchen Primack Self-Interview

Thursday, February 21, 2013

in a dream I swam with your smile
in a waveless ocean
your skin pressed into mine

Sunday, February 17, 2013

violet anemones, a pinecone
and valentines invite a Queen
into her quiet city

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

rosemary head
monkey arms
banana foot

Friday, February 1, 2013

night's parking lot, a perfect spot
to stop, my eyes
an unwritten poem

Sunday, January 27, 2013

the absence of your soft presence
makes this home an empty cavern,
greys my heart

Friday, January 25, 2013

run run run over sweet-smell grass
smiles wave in your sunny wake
your beloved pack awaits

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

on this night, a home is full.
every heart present, every eye adores,
every hand secure, in peace

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

too quiet memory of your loving chaos
keeps me reeling beyond secret stars,
fills my veins with sugar sludge

Monday, January 21, 2013

waiting to hear, one way or another --
an empty frame, a frozen screen,
a blanket fallen from our bed

Thursday, January 17, 2013

without your eyes on my small work
words live only in my fingers,
reflect only my heart

Thursday, January 10, 2013

fatigue fair dates focus
and eyes long closed save
limited leaves for you

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

birds among stars, ask
to pass through these panes,
these endless rectangles

a historic library bursting
with the stories of the hordes
you leave behind