Barefoot to the picnic, I
 consume the hillside
 and sheltering sky
leaving notes
for you to brush aside
 and behold the landscape
 whereon you reside

We are the living questions
 we need only ask

The world
         life
    such a heavy gift
may I bear it all
 not groan under it
       oh
   perhaps
     I am wrong–way ’round
and planting feet
 find solid ground

Darling, don’t fade.
From your curly locks,
I reconstruct the mountain airs
 and the earthen landscape;
from your starry eyes,
 the heavens and the
  vast universe.

Hugging the bottom
 little pebble
 never knew
It could break the surface
 breathe the air
 create waves
and the stream
 would just as well
 pass through

 Thank you for this pain
these pangs of love
 You just beauty being
I can’t get away 
 Amo, ergo sum

Tenderly you breathe upon me
 moving every atom
 brushing through my soul
Harsh lessons
 how is it I remain
 in entirety

Behold
No bugbear in my woods
but I
and the bugs I bare
Spider, mosquito, and tick
I tend
Scabs I once continually picked:
Beauty marks
Lost in my loving them

The grey–curled dryad
spoke of a koi in the lake
she spied years ago
Koi in the lake?
Disposed by someone
Dispose of a koi?
Why not a lake full of koi?

I
I hunt for this koi
in this vast lake
a tug on my line
reveals grace–filled fins
            rainbow scales
             languid eyes
              from the depths
startled, I cut the line
regret its nursing my rusting hook
 blemishing its lip

II
I hunt for this koi
in this vast lake
a tug on my line
reveals grace–filled fins
            rainbow scales
             languid eyes
              from the depths
determined, I reel it in
grasp it
jerk out the hook
as its blinking eyes
wonder at my violence

III
I paddle
in this vast lake
a glimmer of light
reveals grace–filled fins
            rainbow scales
             languid eyes
              from the depths

IV
I dream of a glimpse
of grace–filled fins
     rainbow scales
      languid eyes
       from the depths

Drowsy in the afternoon
 I daydream of how life began
Where to begin?
A fool to set the dial at dawn
 full daylight then
fifteen minutes beforehand
 affords no preview
A full hour buys an inkling
 of twilight’s twinkling
 of Daphne’s whispering
  embracing of the embankments
  away from Apollo’s attainment
Even then,
 I have yet to see when
 day articulates its begin

A solitary cloud on the horizon gleams
 the night is brushed into luxuriance by degrees
 the tension of the starry–eyed watchmen
  and their moonbeams are relieved
The horizon is wreathed in ambient light
 out of the blue
 the firmament is established
an ocean of clouds, rose–imbued
 engulf their first little plume
from the ash of the trees’ leaves
 a remote rebel wind blows
 rekindling an ember which died long ago
a reversal of fate crackles
 the wood births its master
Beyond the mists, a beam strikes
Behold the glob: uncontrolled fire
My eyes catch her eyelash rays
heat alights me; I avert my gaze
knowing dawn

I lumber home to begin my way
 occasionally glaring back
 resenting the triumphant orb’s
 overpowering glory and iridescent morning
What could I do to compare with the making of the day?
 I just bask in it

All those unanswered sunsets
 each have their sad goodbyes’ bright condolences
I’ve slumbered in ignorance, abjured the witness of it
I don’t live here, but somewhere hours hence or thence
 and remain lulling in jet lag, a perpetual guest

Now in my seeking
 I send unsuspecting foxes leaping
How natural it fits
 the pace of my body and the strengthening of my wits
 with dawn’s rising, when I attend to it
How ready I am
 at the day’s sad forsaking
 to yield to the dream
 of continual awakening