POEM: To the Asymmetric Rain That Would Not Abandon Me

To the asymmetric rain that would not abandon me:
You are loyal,
And Count each and every leaf
On each and every tree as you fall.

To the flashing lightning
That dies like a fluorescent kitchen light:
Dying is a job each of us is given
Though no one wants.

But you are arms that wrap me tight
In the friendless place
Of the end of night
And the promise of still more rain
Yet to drop onto my roof.

POEM: Breath Meditation

My inhale is God’s breath out.
My exhale is my deepest hurt.
This is how I converse with everything.

POEM: Had I Only Known

I would have jumped into that river to save you
From drowning
I would have pulled you out from the freezing water
And breathed fresh air back into your lungs
And pressed the reddest blood back into your heart
I would have carried your wet body
Cold as night back to up the house to rest
Cleaned you up - laid you out dressed in a stately way

I would have cried missing the smell of you
The comfort of you in my peripheral vision
I would have drunk too much coffee so I would not sleep
So I could tell you all the things I was too afraid to say before
I would have listened all night for that laugh again
I would have written you new poetry
Made even god cry hard enough to give you back
I would have kissed the coffin as it wheeled by me at church
As I tossed in my handful of dirt
As I peered into that hole as deep as sleep
I would have remembered how to pray

I would have jumped down into that hole to save you
Had I only known that I was drowning too

POEM: The Science of An Inner Life

I am a flag that flies stiff
In the wind over you,
Moved by forces no one ever sees.
I am taught control from my very birth.
That it is control which turns the very earth,
From west to east in a gradual dawn,
From shadow to light, from evening till morning.
But I have been gifted with no such wisdom.
I am just this flag
That signals a love for you
That wildly waves and knows you as true,
That draws attention to graceful silences
Which comprise the unearthly science
That is the inner life of all things.