Midnight

We are like our
Newyear's bell,
Rung to a world's
Time and tuned
To one brass note,
But each ring is
Followed by a new
And different quiet.

Tachycardia

A hummingbird's heart
Beats a thousand times
Each minute -- I ask,
"Isn't that unbearable?"
"Oh yes," she answers.
"But there are moments
When it's merely relentless."
Courage, and encouragement
Come in all sizes.

We Are Here

Turn up the sound, switch to full screen. This is live feed from orbit. Watch Earth move.

The search for a closed scheme
That provides a  complete  and 
Self-consistent  explanation  is
Full  of  flaws --in itself, an
Incomplete statement, consider:
Conscious beings -- universe
Generated  self-awareness,  no 
Minor by-product of mindless
Forces,  no  trivial  detail --no.
We are truly meant to be here.
And yet, it is we who invented
Meaning  --good  thing  too!

Attercopus, WWW

400 million years:
DNA absorbed in
Viruses  spread
Protein templates
Spider to spider
Resulting in silk
Spirals, parallel
Lines, spinnerets
And why I got a
D  in  geometry.

Immensity

Inland under rainshadow,
Over coastal cordillera,
Plains and mountain passes,
Over this immense land
Raindrops stop
Gently in our hands.

Triple Word Score

I see your lamplit face.
All space is the same space.
Subatomic time is
Constant among galaxies
And these brains of ours, so
Ideas addressed in neurons
Are heard also among stars.
I am able to look across
Scrabble at you and know 
The reverse is also true. 

Quantum Wave Adjustment Kit

Being you is
Barefoot at 
Night rejoicing
Where beach fires
Compose wishes.
Being me is
Years ago noticing
How pliers
Look like fishes.







I have tinkered with this poem a long time. Posted it most recently seven years ago  and noticed it got shorter every time I wrote it. So this time I abandoned meter, which was getting troublesome, in favor of an illustration. Went out to the pumphouse and fetched my vicegrips, which are close enough to pliers to serve ably in a Quantum Wave Adjustment Kit. It also needed some anatomical labels, which meant attempting a webcam Geodoodle. Poetry is hard work!