Category: A Daily Poem

The sky was greenish
because the sun was setting
and there were few clouds.

sometimes you feel like
cleaning things out – it's a mess…
you could blame the spring

Why harbor such bitterness, you might ask?
Disgruntlement is timeless…
I digress.

late fragments of snow
or freezing rain pelt my face
but they're selling spring

certain thoughts hove into focus
seeping in and dreaming
hypnagogical hypnosis
teasing tastes of blooming lotus
downward notions streaming

The moon was an arc:
narrow, upturned, welcoming
heaven to the earth.

The plain was littered with stunted trees.
A faceless horizon swept out,
distilling epics and dreams.
The companion was gone,
and so he just kept
walking alone
there under
heaven's
gaze.

night consumed the air
wreaking havoc among dust
taking bites of clouds

Words align like birds arrayed and
fanning out, just flying;
shifting metaphors… a brigand
stumbles, falls in forest quicksand:
thus my meaning failing.

Today was Lunar New Year's day. I sat
and contemplated those things never known.

[daily log: walking, unknown.]

I had a dream about a bed
it all developed in my head
I thought I might begin to rest
but then I woke; it wasn't best.

Walking down some piney ridgeline –
where is Gobong Mountain?
No one paused in dodging sunshine
nor remarked the landscape's incline…
no response was counted.

He climbed those many steps, and reached the top.
The tree was brandishing its branches high,
awaiting human sacrifice and blood,
at least as metaphor for tasting life.

The ancient man arose and climbed the hill,
the scent of eucalypts bestrode the breeze.
He brought his withered body like a weight
to be discarded once the gods were met.

They worshipped trees ensconced in pyramids.
Above the trees the starry sky hung, cold.

the day was springlike
the air warmer; and so smog
made an appearance.

I unrolled the map and looked at it:
it showed my life's topographies
laid out like pointillist art
with little swirls and curves
demarcating space
and limning time
and at last
nothing
more.

This morning, waking up, inventing things:
I crafted blooming consciousness from dust.

Clouds.
Fiercely
floating there
in the epic
unsupportable
vastness of winter sky.
Beyond them lies only space,
and the occasional lost god,
hoping to catch any errant prayers.

She said, "Spring will come."
I said, "Yes, but it's okay.
I don't mind the cold."

Each day turns up one new card
this one tells me nothing
knowing meanings can be hard
emptiness puts me on guard
maybe it's just bluffing

The tower rose, all arabesque and white
a thrusting gesture at the patient skies.

Painting at right by Pieter Bruegel the Younger, 1563

[daily log: walking, 1km]

Work to ignore the critic, just babbling…
but – like trees – eremitic…
dendritic.

that wild man enkidu in the fields
galivanting and breaking things
shaking his fist at the sun
no one approved of this
the woman shamhat
went out to him
there that's nice
now he's
tamed

dark path… I looked up
the red moon staining old snow
over in the east

Air and earth and latent meaning
made of categories,
skulking there behind the leaning
sheets of stone just intervening –
all important stories.

a few snowflakes fell
some fat ones drifting sideways
children tasted them

In the monster's mind was pain, so it thrashed;
it killed rather than complain –
not quite sane.

isolation gives
a needed rest. the sun shines
but the air is cold.

December, 627
The Emperor Iraklios disliked
the foggy plains where Sumer once held sway.
He marched for Ctesiphon, but then turned back;
they’d cut the bridges, stopping any chance.
He’d made his point regardless: King of Kings
in Persia signed the treaty in the end.
[daily log: walking, 7.5km]

I have one hour till I have to go.
I'll make one more cup of coffee.
And think of something to write.
It's hard to imagine.
Meanwhile the sun slants.
Dust motes settle.
Motionless.
Static.
Still.

clear time tumbles down
spilling out onto the path
forming ice crystals

Skies aglow with drops of Canaan,
cupric calm advancing,
broken blue and sun-filled heaven
frozen earth, all motion waning,
stones will stop their dancing.