Rain in June

Surprising like a rainbow in the desert
Deserts are full of surprises
Whether to take an umbrella
Across the Sahara, crying camel tears
Hyenas eat your hearts out
Because we are always thirsty
Whether for peace or adventure
Digging dry wells under the umbrella
If we were happy we would put down roots
Unfurl our branches to the sky
Whether it brings sunshine or rain
Soaking it in
Unmoved, unmoving

A Good Pint of Guinness

Though I've never set foot on the Emerald Isle
a good pint of Guinness does make me smile
when I'm in Marin
at the Pelican Inn
with a swim and a hike eating bangers in style

An Epiphany of Tree

On the way out we photograph the tree
alone or one at a time

The tree is too big for our cameras
our screens

It doesn't fit in our eyes

We must take in a bit at a time
like the blind men and the elephant
separated by our perceptions

Maybe the tree is really a God
the earthly manifestation of a higher dimension
and photographing it is like
skipping to the good part of the song
which is an epiphany only in context

Alamere Falls

A sign points to a maze of thicket
Watch out for the poison oak
I have been guide and guided
led my blind friend down the sandstone pipe
in a hailstorm only to turn around
at the overflowing stream

The first time I came here
a beautiful woman sat
buddha-like by the clear green pool
across stepping stones
I splashed my face
meditated at the cliff's edge

The Farrallones shimmered on and off the horizon

Once a whale pelt lined the beach
with the stench of rotting flesh
seagulls relished the fatty meal

I have caught rainbows in the tumbling water

You may never return and reach the waterfall
or see my rainbow tears

Always the vultures, watching
to them I must open my heart

Bass Lake

Wind brushed meadows
tumble over violent cliffs
down to the raging, rocky sea
redeemed by daisies

Even hemlock is laced with flowers

The evergreen thrill of the Tarzan rope
stuns the deep woods with merry shrieks

My son and I swim round the emerald lake
conjuring up old friends in conversation
this place thick with the magic of memory

Looking At Houses

Houses are full of dreams
you imagine lazy garden afternoons
daydreaming
evenings cooking and drinking wine
winters hibernating in the attic

Attics are full of loneliness
adults acting like children
children playing in the treehouse

How many lives has this house seen?
Centenarian
never too old
to keep from fulfilling
so many dreams

Studying Yoga

You haven't learned yoga until you practice alone
standing in relationship with the Universe
breathing it in and out
being the door

Other Lives

We spend so much time
imagining ourselves a different life
like a door waiting to open

When somebody finds the key
what will keep out the wind and the rain?

Stuff

Once I made my peace with chattels
after leaving a household in Houston
packing a family of five in a Chevy Blazer
giving the dog to a friend
swapping books in New Orleans for fewer books
Then I turned a new leaf
shipped my granny's antiques to Berkeley
lived with them for five years
Unlike kids, they never grew up
I feel restless
I don't want to grow old and die
with all this stuff

Blind Date

Vrooming down the avenue
belly sinks with excitement

We charge up the mountain
leaning into a wall of street
catching air on the terraces

Swathed in fog the bay opens beneath

We carve a corner

I remember to breathe

In the golden light this could be Italy

We pull over and watch the sunset with the old bikers
You give me fruit telling me it's not about the perfect job
it's finding yourself and going to work

I cling to you for warmth
purple sky streaks through eucalyptuses

Later in the bar you say we could be anywhere
we could be in Thailand having this conversation
craigslist is like traveling you meet new people
to find yourself

Parable of the Lamps

We need only be present
to witness the divine union

The feast will go on without us

Too Many Words

Too many words, not enough touch
I wonder if we are born this way
or if language grows like a weed
beside the right hand brain area
where once grew peaches
I reach out with my words
squeezing your hand
touch someone

Bloomsday 2011

I jerk awake as the audience laughs
nothing in the house to eat
but pills for back pain
at last a phrase we understand
some follow along in books
I combat drowsiness with word games
the masterful reader speaks in voices
mercifully quick
we celebrate the end with Irish soda bread
crumbs of a drunken day at the beach
thinking of death
celebrating an anniversary

Now

The moment before words
take on a language
the air heavy with lemon blossom
the sweetness of breath

Recipes for Love

It took me years to learn
I liked meat
but not the way you cooked it
yet I always cooked for you
the way you liked it

Heritage

When it mattered you let me down
told me later

I feel your embarrassment
the fear of rejection
in that moment
tiptoeing out

I want to disinherit
these unreasonable pauses
with my sons

Samaritans

Few people lend a hand
to the old drunk fallen in the street
the young woman with a crying baby
the person asking directions in Spanish

My mother does
and so do I

Growing Up

When I was in my teens
someone told me
that growing up is when you learn
to lie to your mother

I should grow up

Why

My mother always told her friends
she knew I'd be a scientist
because my first sentence was

Squirrels eat acorns but people don't
why?

I still remember
wanting to eat the acorns

Contagious Anxiety

When I talk with my mother
I wonder if I am
doing the right thing

Then I start to wonder
who I am
why do anything

at all

though I understand
she's only worried about me
that this is how she must feel
all the time

I don't want to

My Mother's Way of Caring

My mother's way of caring
is to tell me what to do

This often rings a bell

But between me and you
well
at least she cares

Taking Cover

We cover ourselves in clothes
to keep out the cold and the heat

We cover ourselves in houses
to keep out the rain and snow

We cover ourselves in cars
to keep out the time between places

We cover ourselves in facebook
to keep out the distance between us

But on a sunny day we are just like the trees
unfurling our green limbs to the heavens above

Energy

I never understood what people meant
by energy
mysterious, spiritual, supernatural
having color and frequency
until you held me in your blue gaze
and told me it just means love
that you channel until you feel it in yourself
and then communicate with the other person
through touch
and I knew exactly what you meant
because I sometimes feel that

Poor Dead Crow

Poor dead crow
someone's eaten out your heart

Lustrous feathers, blue-black
frame the deep red cavity

Was it swift like a bullet
or a lightning bolt?

Were you hurrying home
to your nestlings at night
too close to a cat
or a speeding car?

Maybe disease gnawed you from inside
slowly day by day
until you caved in
here, underneath the freeway

Strange Dreams

You tipped me over
to drink the sand pouring out of my blouse

Weren't you just telling your sons
not to eat sand?

I'm a sandy person
always doing headstands on the beach
I could be a sundial
or an hourglass

My time is your time

In an earlier dream
you pinned me down to kiss me
I woke tangled in the cover alone

You were somebody else

We're like clockwork figures doing our dance
sometimes I'm me and sometimes you are

A Kaleidoscope of Love

I feel a different kind of love
for each new lover
each new friend
and sometimes old friends
who call to catch up
and find we have both changed
It warms my heart to think of
all the friends I have yet to meet
old and new
and all their friends
so many different kinds of love
a kaleidoscope of love 

Spinning Wheels

The man crosses the road on his bicycle
his daughter riding beside him
through the traffic

From my perspective
her front wheel fits perfectly in his rear wheel

I long for the times
our children's problems could be contained
within our own