the old trees.

when the buzz stills,

I move.

gone before the dew rolls to the ground and I can’t seem to find

my subway pass, so I steady walk

into a jaunt and when my eyes rest I am

back, warm

and with the old trees.

Ode to Haiku, Maui.

I’ve been to places

now, just a few

where Hafez’ words

ring ever so true.

Oh dear Haiku, Maui

“Your heart and my heart

are very,

very

old friends.”

on a walk with a friend in the Catskills.

as I traverse this warm Hawaii path thousands of miles from my current home

I reflect on that

cold evening in the Catskills.

we walked the path near your home and

the rustling of the leaves

as your feet shuffled behind me,

the simple sound

a steady beat

just there, I did not

need to see it

it was,

it is.

on going and staying and staying and going.

I head up Carroll and past Garfield and toward the park,

and on my way, well the lady ahead, I hear her remark

to her companion “let’s cross the street so the light isn’t right in our eyes,”

and I know I feel

the exact opposite.

the rays warm me with the softness of a Mother’s unconditional love

and I know I would only cross the street to be where the bright is striking.

****

I glide on past the piles of leaves and a little girl on her little bike shouts as she speeds

toward her freedom, “Mommy, tell me when to stop!!!” as she already begins to slow

even as her voice sings “wheeeeee”

and I know I feel somewhat differently.

I whisper to her, and I think a little bit, to me

“keep going, keep going, your path is your destiny.”

****

“My house says to me, ‘Do not leave me, for here dwells your past.’
And the road says to me, ‘Come and follow me, for I am your future.’
And I say to both my house and the road, ‘I have no past, nor have I a future. If I stay here, there is a going in my staying; and if I go there is a staying in my going. Only love and death will change all things.'”

–Khalil Gibran, Sand and Foam

on feet and mind in matters of destiny.

my restlessness and uncertainty disappear in their relevance by the sunlight commanding my attention,

and my feet beat my mind in the task of moving

toward my destiny.

***

“In New Guinea Pidgin, throwim way leg means to go on a journey. It describes the action of thrusting out your leg to take the first step of what can be a long march.”

-Tim Flannery, Throwim Way Leg: Tree Kangaroos, Possums and Penis Gourds

Sand Beach, Acadia National Park, Maine

life calling.

“I care to live only to entice people to look at nature’s loveliness.  My own special self is nothing. I want to be like a flake of glass through which light passes.” – John Muir

Acadia National Park, Maine

on fundamental richness.

from the garden of milkandmeans

****

to every shrug

to every lie

to every scar

to every tug

to every tear,

to all I blow a kiss

you are fundamental richness.

“Fundamental richness is available in each moment. The key is to relax: relax to a cloud in the sky, relax to a tiny bird with gray wings, relax to the sound of the telephone ringing.  We can see the simplicity in things as they are.  We can smell things, taste things, feel emotions, and have memories.  When we are able to be there without saying, “I certainly agree with this,” or “I definitely don’t agree with that,” but just be here very directly, then we find fundamental richness everywhere.  It is not ours or theirs but is available always to everyone.  In raindrops, in blood drops, in heartache and delight, this wealth is the nature of everything.  It is like the sun in that it shines on everyone without discrimination.”  – Pema Chodron

Oh Brooklyn Dragonfly.

You paused on a branch of my honeysuckle this morning, affording me this majestic view of your being

and instantly the churn of the summer city grind melted into nothingness.

“water no get enemy” by Fela Kuti.

 

 

on waking up.

then one day I realized this closet ain’t gonna clean itself, it was going to be up to me,

then one day I realized this life is gonna live itself, either way, with or without me,

so I think I’ll seek and my promised land, just in case it doesn’t find me.

a butterfly in my garden today.