My Spirit Splashes

My spirit bathes in
rivers

oceans

still ponds

 little tidal eddies

and  the grace

of rain on sage

carried by prairie winds

Godly waters leak inside me

drip
by
drip

hollowing out the caverns of

my soul with something holy

 the spiritual promise

in sulfur spray that shoots from

faithful geysers

and the soothing calm of

cool running mountain waters

Clinging

like little wisps of moss

growing slowly

on unmoving river stones

I remember that

 time and water always

 all ways

find a way to flow

Reaching
with all ten fingertips,

grasping for a taste of heaven

and I see myself in

the lips of trout that break surface

 reaching for low buzzing insects

  kissing the unknown above 

Scrambling

 awkward in my humanity

like misty bouncing water droplets

springing off  of heavy boulders

and fragile ferns alike

as they tumble the waterfall

 

Like every drip of rain,

and every snowflake that ever fell

my being wants nothing

but the soothing saltiness of the ocean

to wash my sins away

my spirit splashes 

 in the grace of rain on sage

carried by prairie winds

Rain Creek

Riding along

with my head on your shoulder

                          and feet out the window

the cotton woods rain white ashes

on the windshield of your Chrysler New Yorker

with the cigarette burns on the seats

We lose our selves on old country roads
that know each other so well not even
the locals really know where one ends
and the next begins

Out the passenger window

                      I can barely see

the green fields of next year's wheat

absorbing the last of this day's warmth

I watch you smoke with one hand,

the other draped around my bare shoulders

you steer with your left knee

and I wonder
where the ashes fall to

once they've escaped your fire

Uncertain

somedays it seems to me
 that everybody and everything is
 trying to pick apart
the ground of truth I've built
for myself
suddenly all sureness
seems dissolved to thin air
out of the blue I find myself
wobbling on stilts of uncertainty
crisp black and white piles
become sullen grey puddles
and nothing is anything
but muddled anymore

Nothin but Skittles

I know, I know, I know...
We just stopped talking about Trayvon Martin.
We just took a step toward moving on
by going a minute or two without thinking of him.

But I say, "Hey! It's about time somebody reminded us again."
Trayvon is a mother's Son. Trayvon is a father's Son.
Trayvon is lost.
Therefore, I remind you;
If "We Are Trayvon!" then surely,
We, too, are lost.

If I can shine a small light into the despair
of this darkness, let it be the light of empathy:

If it were your kid dead,
Clutching nothing but Skittles...
You wouldn't be done fighting for him.
If it were your child's chest blown open...
while Zimmerman took his gun home that night,
You'd not be done just yet.

You know it.  I know it.
Every parent who'll stop to check
their safe and sleeping child tonight - knows it.
Not one of us needs to know the others race to know this truth.

And so, I say,
"I am not done yet."
I am not ready to move on from Trayvon.
Because if he were my kid dead,
Clutching nothing but skittles...
I wouldn't ever be done fighting for him.
Not ever.

Insomnia

I'm haunted by it
since you left
actually always have been
just not as enjoyable
as it was
when you were here
and I used to watch you breath
rather than stare
at the wallow
you left behind in my mattress

Ocean Day

swirling
beating
almost rhyming
in and out the ocean waves

oh so salty cold

walking away from you
the sand squishes up over my feet
between my toes
into the heels of my blue jeans

follow me
into this sea - join me
this side of these crashing waves
let us splash
and be children and lovers in the same moment

let time flow on the other side of the tide
may it wash over us
and never move us from this instant

swirling
beating
almost rhyming
this side of love's crashing wave
it's oh so cold
walking away from you

Every word applies

words
on paper
in my head
from my heart
carved in stone
born of wind
made of clay
rhyming
rhythming
melodious
cruel
loving
sexy
 sultry
painful
true
any word
every word
 this;that; there; then
here; how their; now;
 yours; his; hers; theirs;mine;
all words apply
when I think of you
any word will do
and every word does
loving you
every word applies