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

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

A Silly Little Primer That's Not Half Bad

Huff Post Books: Everything You Need To Know About Poetry

partially found poem

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

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

photo courtesy of NASA

can't stop remembering today

fear on the futon, life in my belly

death all around

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

unexpected teaching:
tree and lampost reach together
toward heaven

these appointments approaching ours
are both inconsequential
and of supreme importance

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

sometimes the best thing you can do
is something
for yourself

love is not perfect
but it can be
just right

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

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

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

through dark slats
awaiting your return
to this learning place

Coleman Barks reading Rumi

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

cultivate calm acceptance
of multiplicity in coping
with multiplicity

a moment spent
on love is
always worthwhile

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

hearty focus and uncertainty
can live together
until the harvest season

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  

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

forgiveness yet God
first can love and
light Divine

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

insomnia is a peacock

in full tail, fenced in

by chicken wire

for every baby, everywhere

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

differentiating between needs
and wants, both
daunting and necessary

last night in New York --
Chinese food
summer storm

Chaos

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

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.

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

sometimes pulling back
is the kindest way
to love

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

eternal combustion
in this city of metaphors
and lost cobbles

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

painful swallowing
does not prevent
nourishment from entering

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

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

fortune is random
but relative blessing
can be cultivated

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

emboldened
but now no one knows
-- it is just there

brown sugar and fig
dark mark moleskin
vintage rooted wave

surviving ghosts reside
in the delicate corners
of your eyes

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

1981, unknown location
courtesy of Pat Cook/YouTube

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

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

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

the art of possibilities

surface under hinges

apparent scuffs deserted

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

anything but clarity
on the night you did not see me
but I was lost in you

new leaves
flicker
in a clear breeze

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

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

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

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

photo by M. Leder

as sad as it is

to miss a first bloom

there are worse fates

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"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

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

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

rosemary head
monkey arms
banana foot

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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