From Emily Dickinson, some lines exploring different kinds of solitude ... There is a solitude of space A solitude of sea A solitude of death, but these Society shall be Compared with that profounder site That polar privacy A soul admitted to itself— Finite infinity. ~ Emily Dickinson * …
Poetry
Wells of Possibility
Poetics I look for the way things will turn out spiraling from a center, the shape things will take to come forth in so that the birch tree white touched black at branches will stand out wind-glittering totally its apparent self: I look for the forms things want to come as from what black wells of possibility, how a thing will unfold: not the shape on paper—though that, …
Lalla’s Q & A
In the following verses, the fourteenth-century Kashmiri mystic Lal Ded (aka Lalla) poses a series of questions, and then answers them ... Who’s asleep and who’s awake? What is that lake in the sky from which a rain of nectar is falling? What is the offering that Shiva loves most? What is that Supreme Word you’re looking for in the hermit’s coded dictionary? The mind’s asleep. When it …
Poets & Revealers
In The Garden Sweet sounds, and scents, and colours join to woo My musing heart to love and reverence; A tender and a subtle influence Comes from each graceful form, each brilliant hue; Strange power have they, my spirit to imbue With thoughts above themselves; for e'en while sense Adores the Beautiful with joy intense, The soul, far gazing, only seeks the True. And ye, fair flowers, …
Ferns
Unfurling in My Garden I sometimes enjoy paging through old poetry chapbooks—collections lovingly handbound, offered as gifts (often at Christmas) to friends and family. For many years, this was my primary way of sharing the poems, offering a glimpse to others of this part of my work/play. Almost always, the reading of the poem brings forth a memory of the physical location associated with its …
Morning Song
creek-song, bird-song, cricket-song: this mountain trail at dawn * …