They’re small, the flowersof mountain mahogany—little white and red trumpetswith barely a scent, buttoday, on a trail linedwith millions of tiny blossoms,the air was hung with sweet perfumeand I breathed deeper,as if with each pullI could bring beauty into my lungs. When I lose faiththat my smallest actionsmake a difference,let me remember myself as one of […]
for Kathy Jepson who lives and works in the San Miguel River Canyon Some people are rivers—always moving, always in flow.Wherever they are,life flourishes. They nourish,they support, they sustain,and they change the shapeof the landscape—carving new paths around obstacles,softening what is sharp.Some people are rivers—the lifeblood of a valley.Forceful at times,at other times gentle,but constant, […]
There was that yearwhen my motherturned used ribbons,thin paper platesand gold-painted plastic grapesinto a celebration.Our small family sataround an old oak tableand made hatsfrom the strange collection.How festive it was,so much more than enough.Fifty years laterI remember the joywhen we tied those platesonto our heads.They were scraps, trash—the miraculous kindthat needs only loveto make it […]
We must go in search of enchantment. René Magritte, “Surrealism in the Sunshine” And so, my heart,raw and torn,went to the gardenand bid its handsto dig in the soiland plant zinnias,lemon thyme, basil,and osteopermum.And what hurt still hurt—but an hour later,the heart emergedraw and torn andgrateful for beauty.All day, it rememberedthe orange and purple petals,the green […]
for my daughter “Snuggle,” she said,a two-syllable passportto another world—the world in whichshe is more dreamthan mask, more breaththan task, her softnessinviting my softness,and I slipped besideher dream-scented bodyand curled myselfinto her shape,one arm drapedacross her weight,and matched my inhaleto her inhale, matchedmy every exhale to hersand listened as once againsleep took her,and she was […]
Delivered at the Telluride High School Graduation, June 2, 2023 I don’t know how to make sense of the storyof how Finn is here, although he is not.How he lives in the deep soil of memory—still running with you through the playgroundyour bodies bright streaks of joy,cartwheeling across the green valley floorand tap dancing on this […]
Oh friends, I am ecstatic to share with you something new, fun and deeply meaningful. Guitarist Steve Law and I collaborated on a new album, Dark Praise, fourteen poems with music that honors the dark and how it opens us to creativity, passion, intimacy, revelation, dreaming, receptivity, self-discovery. The album will release on July 14, but it’s available for […]
I walk in the chill,and the pastwalks beside me,smooths my tears,holds my hand,faithful as evening,gentle as a shadow.By the timeI re-enter my home,it has slippedinside me again.We walk throughthe dooras one.
Before the eyes are openbut after the body wakes,there is that gentle interludewhen the scent of the dreamlingers like lavender incenseand light enters the bodythrough the skin and there isenough awareness to fall in lovewith this moment but not enoughagency to stay in or to leave— I imagine it’s what it’s like to be a bud,to […]