Bend and Breathe

 

-------Bend and Breathe-------

 

When fear 

moves through my body 

like a storm

 

I stop where I can 

and listen to the wind.

 

"Bend 

and breathe" 

my branches, 

 

Swaying,

whisper

 

"And let our leaves 

make music 

with wind."

 

-------

Toward the Ocean

 

-------Toward the Ocean-------

 

No matter another's effort 

to undermine 

our direction

 

The river within us 

will still meander,

 

Fork and fall

but never straighten

 

As we move

toward 

the ocean.

 

-------

Goodnight, Moon

 

-------Goodnight, Moon-------

 

Tonight 

the peeper frogs are singing

 

Goodnight, Moon

Hello, glorious Spring.

 

Thank you, 

I sing along with them

 

Sweet Moon 

and Spring

 

Thank 

you.

 

-------

Equinox

 

-------Equinox-------

 

Patience is a temperament

akin to middle Spring

 

When nighttime meets the length of day

 

And the tender green 

of possibilities

 

Emerges slowly

 

From the dark,

waking Earth.

 

-------

Connection

 

-------Connection-------

 

When I take the time 

to pay attention

 

And let go 

of things 

to do

 

I feel the seeds 

within me 

stirring

 

And the garden 

begin to waken.

 

-------

A Little More Green

 

-------A Little More Green-------

 

There is a lightness 

to weeding in Spring

 

A kind of wonder 

carried over 

from Winter

 

Making everything 

a little more green.

 

------- 

Into We

 

-------Into We-------

 

In due respect 

for what is sacred

 

I do not dare 

romanticize

 

How it feels 

to fall 

in Love.

 

There are flowers

for sure

 

And sweetness 

like the ever-Spring

 

But 

so too

is there destruction

 

As the wall around

the isolated I

 

Crumbles

into We.

 

-------

 

Many Thanks

 

-------Many Thanks-------

 

On a warm day

on the edge of Winter

 

I offer my praise

to the Sun

 

Aside the Maple

whose sap is rising

 

And the Songbirds 

sharing their song.

 

-------

 

La Push

 

-------La Push-------

 

A guest on the edge of Quileute land

where the forest meets 

the sea

 

I look 

into the west,

toward the red sun

 

And the place 

my people 

came here from.

 

A long time ago we did belong.

Part, with rivers 

and with the trees,

 

In a great story many 

generations

in the making,

 

The breaking 

of which 

has become a goal of conquest.

 

A guest

on the edge 

I stand

 

With one foot 

occupying 

stolen land

 

And one 

in the ocean 

that connects us all

 

Through time 

and space,

to stories and place

 

Where still  

we each

belong.

-------

 

Soul Music

 

-------Soul Music-------

 

It is not a day 

on a calendar 

 

That will, 

I tell you, tell me 

that it is Spring.

 

For it is 

the shifting of light

 

And songs

and seeds stirring 

in the belly of this Earth

 

That wake me 

from Winter's dream.

 

Oh, authorities, 

how they try 

to box life in.

 

And, yet, 

the sweet meander

 

That is the river 

of our 

soul

 

Will never straighten 

and never dry

 

So long 

as we fight 

and listen.

 

-------

 

Just Seeds

 

-------Just Seeds-------

 

Inside the garden 

I remember patience

 

And in the forest,

courage 

and care.

 

Just as the seeds,

resting in Winter,

 

Remind

the hopeless 

that hope is there.

 

-------