Three poems published in Lothlorien Poetry Journal May, 2025.
The Broken Tree
you are out on Bear Mountain
like a pilgrim
with an empty quiver --
you’re hunting nothing
but pines and manzanitas
walking on logging roads
whose pitch, crown
and water berms
of gravel and clay
stumble your feet –
you needed to breathe
the trees today
you look up
to hurried clouds
of a storm coming soon
and so you’ll stumble home
you know
there is an uncanny tree --
a tree you named --
on the other side
of this mountain
you’ll pass by the tree --
a redwood that stands
among others of its kind
all straight as telephone poles --
tall redwoods piercing the sky
with limbs as thin as spears
to snap in storms
and stab a man
to briskly make a widow
although you are man
with a husband,
he’d be bereft too
should winds launch
these lovely spears at you
the pilgrim’s way
has just the right risk
*
this tree you’ve named bends
unlike the others --
huge branches bred
to stretch the air
and run parallel to earth --
branches thick as a trunk
the strange arms spread
to stretch against
the common nature
against the usual world
as though to welcome
both inverted wayfarers
and hungry grey squirrels
a candelabra of spongy bark --
an icon of oddity
sparking with its inordinate form
a fire of queer beauty
you found her years ago --
and only because
you lifted your head
did you see her damaged
crown of craggy snares --
a lightning strike many years ago
fired strange harm at her --
an arrow of flames
lopped off her top
and forged the odd defacements
that widened arms to welcome
you to her world
you congratulated yourself
for noticing, for lifting your head --
you take more credit than due you
and ponder how a poem
could tell this broken story
and doing so
could open
your own disproportions
even as you journey
to Canterbury, Santiago,
Bodh Gaya or your own mailbox
filled with bills
widows weeds
and screens
that scorch your wisdom
wait at home
after rain, this rain
and this road to her
*
the path of letting go
falls under the broken tree
and here the quiver of the nameless
tugs on your shoulder
and still you call
her Sophia, thinking
you were Adam
allowed
to name it all,
to make the sounds
and rhymes
to sing her song
she’s there downslope now
and you walk to her
in a high wind of hope
then hear a drought-dry madrone
crash and crack close by
there’s danger in these trees
a rumble of hard rain
makes you stop --
you tire of toting
this bag of emptiness
you touch her three times
and, courageously, you ask her
to tell the thunder
to pull you
out of yourself
into the trees
and beyond --
you ache to go beyond
a few wet birds scurry and hop
at her feet where
they sing storm warnings
in the raining air
*
the quest narrows
without arrows
rainwater washes
your brow, your own salt
stings your eyes
yet you cannot turn
from her now
you sense
she senses you and gives you sense
you call her by her name
you believe it is her name
though it comes from the Bible,
movies, and the holy spirits
that aim your feet against the road
it’s like you’ve named each other
it’s like you toss atoms back
and forth to levy and load
time and space into your pack --
to make a possible
life with thick arms too --
arms spread wide
to hold all harm
as sacred proof
of how truth shatters
just enough to join the tree
and you, and whoever
hears a name uttered
in storms you cannot hide
it’s like you are ready
you are ready for what’s next
three touches on her rough wet skin
and you tell her
“let me say your name
and change my life”
like a pilgrim
with an empty quiver --
you’re hunting nothing
but pines and manzanitas
walking on logging roads
whose pitch, crown
and water berms
of gravel and clay
stumble your feet –
you needed to breathe
the trees today
to hurried clouds
of a storm coming soon
and so you’ll stumble home
there is an uncanny tree --
a tree you named --
on the other side
of this mountain
a redwood that stands
among others of its kind
all straight as telephone poles --
tall redwoods piercing the sky
with limbs as thin as spears
to snap in storms
and stab a man
to briskly make a widow
with a husband,
he’d be bereft too
should winds launch
these lovely spears at you
has just the right risk
this tree you’ve named bends
unlike the others --
huge branches bred
to stretch the air
and run parallel to earth --
branches thick as a trunk
to stretch against
the common nature
against the usual world
as though to welcome
both inverted wayfarers
and hungry grey squirrels
an icon of oddity
sparking with its inordinate form
a fire of queer beauty
and only because
you lifted your head
did you see her damaged
crown of craggy snares --
a lightning strike many years ago
fired strange harm at her --
an arrow of flames
lopped off her top
and forged the odd defacements
that widened arms to welcome
you to her world
for noticing, for lifting your head --
you take more credit than due you
and ponder how a poem
could tell this broken story
and doing so
could open
your own disproportions
even as you journey
to Canterbury, Santiago,
Bodh Gaya or your own mailbox
filled with bills
and screens
that scorch your wisdom
wait at home
after rain, this rain
and this road to her
the path of letting go
falls under the broken tree
and here the quiver of the nameless
tugs on your shoulder
and still you call
her Sophia, thinking
allowed
to name it all,
to make the sounds
and rhymes
to sing her song
and you walk to her
in a high wind of hope
then hear a drought-dry madrone
crash and crack close by
makes you stop --
you tire of toting
this bag of emptiness
and, courageously, you ask her
to tell the thunder
to pull you
out of yourself
into the trees
and beyond --
you ache to go beyond
at her feet where
they sing storm warnings
in the raining air
the quest narrows
without arrows
your brow, your own salt
stings your eyes
yet you cannot turn
from her now
you sense
she senses you and gives you sense
you believe it is her name
though it comes from the Bible,
movies, and the holy spirits
that aim your feet against the road
it’s like you toss atoms back
and forth to levy and load
time and space into your pack --
to make a possible
life with thick arms too --
arms spread wide
to hold all harm
as sacred proof
of how truth shatters
just enough to join the tree
and you, and whoever
hears a name uttered
in storms you cannot hide
you are ready for what’s next
three touches on her rough wet skin
and you tell her
and change my life”
From Mud Emerging
an early rain
and dazed skyful
of November sun
draws a white cover
from the black dirt
in the nearby hills
you walk there and
celebrate
the seasons’ edges
where mycelia have woken
to see you
their roots
connect
the unbroken will
in the underground –
here there is no place
that does not want to wake you
on these humdrum
trails
you walk to root out your chicanery
and take steps to stop
the myriad screens
that make you -
that first cause
multiple versions of you,
the fake you of your daily mechanisms
and quibbling algorithms
that clip you in
walking meditation
where fungi, not the lotus,
remind you
*
off the marked trail
on a small track
to the steep cliff
where the raw light falls
to the darkness
at the bottom
of Baldwin Creek draw
there where dark prayers
and old marches
leave breadcrumbs
the size of your fallen body
no one would find
you here
the real you, the tangible ash
the lie in your
grasp
tramples the grass
at the chasm, on this edge
of your wilder nature –
falling, falling
you grip
the local rock
the coastal mudstone
crumbles as the path
comes to a crag
*
these small trails
are mysteries
and dead ends
leading to a leap
in the frantic freefall
the main trails:
thoughts begin
small trails:
thoughts end
you pay attention
to beginnings
more than cessation
it is embarrassment,
isn’t it? the very peril
of what you think
of what you are measured to be
in the end
the dark winks
to take contrivance
to the edge
and push it off
and dazed skyful
of November sun
draws a white cover
from the black dirt
in the nearby hills
the seasons’ edges
where mycelia have woken
to see you
the unbroken will
in the underground –
here there is no place
that does not want to wake you
you walk to root out your chicanery
and take steps to stop
the myriad screens
that make you -
that first cause
multiple versions of you,
the fake you of your daily mechanisms
and quibbling algorithms
that clip you in
where fungi, not the lotus,
remind you
off the marked trail
on a small track
to the steep cliff
where the raw light falls
to the darkness
at the bottom
of Baldwin Creek draw
there where dark prayers
and old marches
leave breadcrumbs
the size of your fallen body
the real you, the tangible ash
tramples the grass
at the chasm, on this edge
of your wilder nature –
falling, falling
you grip
the local rock
crumbles as the path
comes to a crag
these small trails
are mysteries
and dead ends
leading to a leap
in the frantic freefall
thoughts begin
small trails:
thoughts end
more than cessation
it is embarrassment,
isn’t it? the very peril
of what you think
of what you are measured to be
the dark winks
to take contrivance
to the edge
and push it off
Seeds
you’ve bushwacked
now
up to a sawtooth ridge
near Bear Creek Spire
in a crevasse
in this crag of granite
two old junipers cling to the rock
they flatten their
trunks
to join
in a small pocket of dirt
trunks like big
barrels
have grown from a fissure
as wide as a wrist
ragged branches
hold dark green fans
up to the Sierra sun
*
a trunk will
narrow
as much as it needs to live --
no limit is the answer to the question you did not ask
your body does not
differ
and clings to rock as well --
from bone your fruits form
two trees reach out
from your spine
from these old seeds in a small dark fracture --
you are shown how to survive in high places
the narrow seeds from
shifting stars
implant in bones every day
to make a way from slender clay
to a sun of
limits, known and unknown
though you have not loved others as yourself
you have not shifted with your whole heart
no matter,
forgiven and forged by this granite bone
in this blinding blue mountain’s day
you confront the face of weathered stone
where the spine’s marrow
seeds join
for a brief green breath, a true breath
that in this light reveals how narrow life can turn
seeds will not waste your dirt or sky --
they find cracks in your façade
wide enough to grow your narrow little life
that widens with
the mercy
of juniper and rock
found in hidden heights
up to a sawtooth ridge
near Bear Creek Spire
in this crag of granite
two old junipers cling to the rock
to join
in a small pocket of dirt
have grown from a fissure
as wide as a wrist
hold dark green fans
up to the Sierra sun
as much as it needs to live --
no limit is the answer to the question you did not ask
and clings to rock as well --
from bone your fruits form
from these old seeds in a small dark fracture --
you are shown how to survive in high places
implant in bones every day
to make a way from slender clay
though you have not loved others as yourself
you have not shifted with your whole heart
in this blinding blue mountain’s day
you confront the face of weathered stone
for a brief green breath, a true breath
that in this light reveals how narrow life can turn
seeds will not waste your dirt or sky --
they find cracks in your façade
wide enough to grow your narrow little life
of juniper and rock
found in hidden heights
No comments:
Post a Comment