healing sounds

there are more body cells
than stars in the heavens
whisper kindly to them
and smile inwardly to heal

somber beauty

willow’s skeleton fills the space
before the sliver of palest yoke
and clouds provoke a storm
her titivating note supersedes
starkness and chill and austerity

tramping

some year i will be seen traipsing across
the dew covered pasture wearing wellies
swinging cameras and canvas and a coke
just to paint the glint in your eyes

crow

calling us in the twilight
fluttering through wishes hidden
for obliging grace haunting song
find the way along heeding depth and curative

my moon

a glittering bowl
floating across black
resting now balanced on
my mesa good night moon

4happy4

as morning star fades into evening star
round the seasons we have been
and back again
into nothingness but patience

betoken

hare sits beneath the cactus spines
goddess of the moon and night
intuitively thinking
blinking
then disappears
into another thought

sundown

twisting crazily are falling leaves
nomadic in the fading light
dizzily and delightfully
making shadows
on the wall

reminding me of you

tea leaves

like rain through my heart pours
are all my thoughts of yours
dear and far

destination

with extraordinary grace and limited joy
gray spies my trailing dust
red hot sun then blankets of stars
herders and collies greet my advent again

nightmare

as a horse plummeting through the forest
thrashing thought the underbrush
my thoughts are of ceaseless
gentle emotions censured
in nightmares

why

death rubs elbows and shoulders
passing daily by many
but never by me
why

away

perhaps i will die drawing a bird
and take flight soaring above it all

dawn

the mountains snow seduces me
its sun baked ocher palette
is a beckoning siren
of mornings glow

music

light from my room drains
as rain pelted my window panes
each drop a note on the minor scale

fall

like love fall just arrives one crisp morning taking us by surprise
leaves seem as alive as fiery opals backlit by morning sun
its more beautiful than my humble words can capture

charmed

crow winters where she summers
dreaming in thick marshes
of healings and suppers
magic pleases crow

words

you looked up this evening
and saw the moon that
sees me too

tree

maybe a mountain ash i will be
weaving muted scarlet leaves in the wind
hopefully to flutter down to you or to the sea

a wish

i wish i were a flower
a larkspur perhaps
willowy and tall
destined to return in the spring

todays horoscope

yours says you are very gently and affectionate in your home
always striving to add to the happiness of your loved ones
mine says i have no analytical mind but rather survive
with intuitive innate thoughts - what the hell does that mean?
am i a moth?

gone

cobalt blue sinks to palest turquoise
rimmed in gold and orange
winters around the corner
snow on saturday
im lost too

autumn

mist lifts from the river
swirling round the golden rod
and fading into the wild olive trees
as a banshee sneaking beneath the cliffs

clock

morning star to evening star
marks a days toil

hostess of nothing but thoughts

long sweeping gathers at the waist
with rows of tiny pockets running round
for stuffing stones and leaves and feathers
dozens of roses as romantically floral as ever created
drop petal across my skirt flared and long today stitched i

words

in the afternoon of birthdays
and the mornings of life
as curled brown leaves
i hope for springs green

life

light visits as in an attic through a crack in the door
turning dust to stars moments before death
staring across the river quiet and charmingly obtuse
he appeared as
rain drops united with it closest other
the split open by its own weight
ran down the glass in one even corridor
as if she didnt exist

verve

as if an unofficial archaeologies i hunt
in corners upstairs and down and under rocks
for life .....some child in my mind shouts over’s

time

the winds become laugher’s laugh
reducing conversations to the shape of lips
it happens when daydreams are sculptured without words

fortune cookie

long roots moor love to our side
except when wooed away

words

salt grass curves in the whisper of a breeze
while horses nibble at their brown flailing seeds
shielded by a chain of cottages softly washed in grays

waves roll blue cross seas by the sand lays
pace perfect for scribbling my poems
from morning through windy days

words

have you ever loved words so much
you desire to kiss the lips that revealed them

reaching

standing on grey
arms stretched way up
placing my hands in the palms painted on the wall red
wished it as easy to touch you

a ukulele time

quiet where an era lulls by
hostess of nothing but thoughts
sunrise rose with flickers of flame orange
its comforting to know these places still exist

flower fields

field of gold and yellow
greet my comings and goings
my salads will never be more complete
than now with buds of nasturtium jewels

first light

wedged between dark clouds
and dark croft mine
orange heralds dawn again

smolder

peace pipes smoke
curls away under the trees
lifted by the breeze unseen by you

words

my words like stones fall
beneath the surface
heard not

quiet

drowsy by the river
dozing by the river
snoozing by the river
lethargic by the river
in a haze by the river
somnolent by the river
not dreamy but sleeping
by the river deafening and red

drift

wave-horse dancing across the swells
sails pregnant from the breeze
creative mavens chasing the sun
trusting the westward gods

to go

around me my words eddied
as up the path i start
empty headed

tree

shrouded in cotton seeds from their name sake
float lazily all around and around

a single steam runs beneath its woody bough
scampering down and down

quiet like me somehow thinking life goes on
laying upon the ground the ground

derby

standing straight up in his irons
calvin accepted the finish

this day

i languish
with decision
steps to begin
against my wish

yearing
lingers
mislaid

epoch

each click of the minute hand
draws me nearer a goal
yet further from my
contentment

inspect

with feathers curled back
by the wind
crow sits my fence post
in the rain
this way and that he caws
scrutinizing
he seems puzzled this day

splendor

sitting where snow
ends and commences
a view without fences
as others in the past
said of a sight so vast
i have idea none how to do
or i would have captured you

full moon

moon rises tangerine in the east
as we sip tea with peanut butter girl scout cookies
and swat away the mosquitos as the evenings rain
muddies the brown frothy river

being been gone

as they should be
wakes are
quiet drunkenness
mournfully
smiling at everything
you were and
pointless jokes you told

odd

sun sets leaving
a blank white sky
at zenith begins
the pales night sky

but clouds zip by
without a sigh

im tired

night river

moonbeams lace across the river
lo hides me in blue moon shadows

kite

the broad red tailed hawk
slips to the end of my string
launched from a slick red knoll
glad i know the real thing
is not as big as he
envy his view i do

gone

like moisture laden on a leaf
names drip from their slender tips
falling into hasty creeks wandering
their splash unnoticed among the slurry
save their melodious sound in my plucked heart

good night

the stars are as i knew
rebelling in the night
their uprisings glean

striking clouds walk between

felt

how far away must far away be
anywhere without you
you without me

cat

headlights catch him drinking at my space
twice contemplating me im told
he walked away each time on
low crouching tippy toes
beautifully and long

elevation

i have altitude today
tomorrow i carry but
a set of pins n note book
and a single brush
water no lunch
im tired

barriers

fences in shaman country
walking the streets admiring
the division of the parcels of land
yours from theirs and theirs from mine

all low just for show
barriers of all manner

open work and filigree or wooden carved
rusty or red and blue and purple
bars and barbed wire and slats
to this place each so unique

return to me oh wisdom

return to me
my days of calm
when rivers flowed
gently and wise
i miss you
and you

beau and bear

the last to be painted are eyes
and these level grey ones look
at me as if i were stealing his soul
and his brown teddy bear to boot
were they thirty years older i might

never the same

for days swirling mocha
now straight up dark black
sunday back to my green perhaps
the rivers never runs the same in spring

wintry spring

stepping from the door in song
whiffs of honeysuckle unwrap my senses
united with vagabond snow greet me
my peace brings burning shame as
a chorus of war drums fill the air

portrait

with colour
précis her charm
smiling with her teeth
pinafore bows and buttons
everything still but finger tips
light and shadow crisp and bright
let me summarize her flaxen flow of curls
oh to be golden four again with life stretched clean

easter gift

tightly rolled
each napkin contains
host card with a single #
somewhere a matched gift
mine a petit point rabbit pillow
stitched in black and white with green
what a surprise happy and delightfully keen

you

the sun warms their face
and bravery burns in their heart
just to care for you

we think of you

peaceful low below the wind
the river runs as always
the cat tails sway gently
spring seems every where
tears mixed with lilies and grass
as all the youth are away at wars
absent warriors persist sealed in thoughts

sunday lunch

easter feast invitation by my host
sends me scouring the shops for attire
sales lady said if its different ya want
then wear what you wore yesterday
blushing i select a lacy white shirt to
tuck into my mums gabardine jodhpurs
who would bother noticing me anyway

thoughts

walking the river bank
your eyes are the night sky
rustling grass your poems resist
lapping water my pleasure
and your quiet scoldings
breeze is my wondering
what brings you joy

where are you

i swear i heard you cry
in that crackly little boy voice
you said you couldnt take it any more
and i saw your face unknown to me
freckles with blonde brown hair and eyes
i am awake now holding my breath
tell me again as i cry too

illegals

from our immigration system inception
in late 1780s congress lifts its
restrictions giving amnesty
every twenty years or so

rain or shine war or no
we will have lost our light
when they stop wanting to arrive

drawing

late for the supper line
i sit in the patio
sketching those later than i
waiting for artichoke
and crisp wine

dream by the river

my lips brush your lips
i breath your breathe
not in a kiss but
as the mist
so lightly
with secret whisperings
in one ear then the other

technique

a bank of sheep with lambs in tow
passes along my road today
silly frilly dog moving low
keeps them on their way
their dust hangs in the air

mornings

slowly moves away the shadows from the bluff
the lingering cold thawing from my ink of colours
sun tans my skin and bringing gleam to my brow
is there no happy medium in the huge desert red

you

like a straw
ice capsulates
the waterfall

instead with

reclamation
concentration
i sketch your face

new friend

after much to do with flame and perking
coffee cups in hand
breakfast invites grey jay her self
stays devouring lunch as well
an omen good im considering
pray leave me a feather

valor

my eyes refuge in the curve of my elbow wept
when heard i of your bravery and daring my dear

words

because your voice was at my side
i gave him pain
because within my hand i held
you hand again

there is no word nor any sign
to make amend
he is a stranger to me now
who was my friend

might i

all seek from you life and death and substance
i only want to know the colour of your eyes