Orbital Mechanism

[David photo]

Where life forms under rolling
Wonder, our round earth turns
It to the sky --an openwork by
Which we always recognize
Ourselves with some surprise,
Our fluid span in time,
Mind and space-- our place.

My Stunt Double

Stars dissolve
Into her eyes.
Wild clouds fly
Across the moon.
Red ghosts
Scudding under
Dark crashes
Drive us indoors.
Thunder, her eyes flash,
She laughs and
Lightning goes
Suddenly sane.
Rain pours down
The window pane,
Stops by and by
But she remains.
So do I.

Avian Drinking Song

Between notes,
A flutter in air.
I hear music there
Before feathers.
Whatever I heard
Rises and does
Grow birds.

October

The ocean is always
In you, in me.
Fictitious forces swirl,
Marmoreal seams pitch
Into air where
Gravity dreams.
What is too far
And ancient to see
Can at least be
Heard there
By you, by me.

Probability Tips

[Norma photo]

Self absent can't
Be unselfish.
Trail is marked
Where our tails left
Arcs in sand, and
We began an endless
Search for what
We couldn't find
At all, or couldn't
Find all of.
We had to invent love,
It seems--
Self, unselfish.
Memories come true--
Different from wishes--
Oftener than dreams.

This Dance

I leaned down
Nearer your
Heart and
Heard singing.

Cosmos

Has it a name?
Bit of
Universe understood,
Not tamed; also
A flower rooted
In flame might slow
Time, measure
Combustion in a
Slow climb, life,
Fill the woods, thrive
Where each arrives and
All must go
Lonely, silent.
But tame? No.

Church And State

[Daughter photo]

Eglise et l'Etat
Sont souvent trompé
Pour chaque autre
Surtout dans
La lumière pauvre
Sous les orages.

History

[Norma photo]

Among gardenias,
Jasmine, sunlit
Histories play out
Hummingbird's
Sure use of
The moment.

La lumière de la vie de flexion

[Norma Photo]
Sanest lorsque nous doutons
Tout est tout ce qu'il ya
Lorsque son conteneur,
Contenant tout,
Cherche la forme
De son conteneur.

Transition

[Norma photo]
Tools sound
Proper clanks
As I put them away.
Suddenly I am myself again.
The world is mine.
Where ever shall
I put it?

Le Monde

[Norma photo]

I spent my afternoon
With grandchildren.
Our faces in soft sunlight
Touch the moment --
A single large moment,
A lot larger than
Religion, nations, and
All lesser interpretations
Of love and history.
We pursue more
Agreeable mystery,
Touch a single moment,
That is the world
And accept no substitutes.

Psychokinèse

Un côté et l'autre
Peut apprendre à bouleverser
Bouteilles à l'unisson.
Seul l'homme au
Au centre peut effectuer
Il par la puissance de l'esprit.

Petrichor

[Norma photo]

After rain, in
The exhalation
Of flowers, there
Is, in those
Hours under dawn,
A smell, an
Enfleurage of
Oils from
New weeds and
Seedlings in
Soil, a word--
Not only a human
Word, larger,
Quieter to contain
A voyage of
The soul, turned
In dark and
Light, made whole.

Late Winter

[Norma photo]


What withdraws and
Rises new on old
Stock conserves,
Keeps all life informed.
Laws alloyed in
Living rock as
A planet warmed
Drew in crags and
Curves each involuted
Fall, division,
Everything upon
An improbable
Idea, spring.

Entrance, Two Definitions

[Norma photo]

Friendly under rains,
Wet garden won't
Get on you like a
Wet dog will
But it wants
To, and what
It wants to do obtains.

Vine And Ladder

Norma garden photo]

In noise, eternity
Unnoticed slips into
Harmony, friendship,
You --you know that.
We get through, begin
Over and over
Again, survive,
Discover, thrive.
I know that.
We're alive, just
That, not saints.
One of us needs paint.