A woman who works for Médecins Sans Frontières
tells me how she and others battle on
despite the constant setbacks.

She says it can take a day sometimes
to travel twenty miles, on sand or mud.

They know supplies may not arrive on time
but every moment's precious
such are patients' needs.

She says that people die quite often
after treating them for weeks or months
as if such tragedies came with the job.

petal hued skies
the threat of rain
bureaus
waiting for transcripts
of yesterdays wants

in the darkness
the dreams roam
called in
by the hunger
of their want
the fill of color
in the vision

the tragic
misses
the flaws
that create
the masterpiece
of longing

and here
beneath
the static
of the breeze

there is discovery
in each step
each breathe

arriving
arriving
in each
gentle
departure

my whore is better than your whore
just ask as many men as you can see
my whore was their whore long before
my little whore was just my whore and me

I knew it the first time we met
my whore was, simply put, the very best
the way she moved, the way she dressed
without a doubt a slut above the rest

so I put my whore on parade
got her all dolled up for the party scene
and reveled in my dance with fame
me a walking arm in arm with my queen

Beware!

When envy leaks from your heart,
the soul will be poisoned.
The conflict will spread to the mind,
turning your words into venom.

Peace will hang by a thread,
time will taunt you into action.
When the truth is replaced
by mere speculations
and all that you have
are unproven assumptions,
do not lay down your guard.
For there within the shadows,
the enemy returns.

Thoughts
swarm my mind
like bees do
around a honeycomb

I am
My memories
My desires
My prejudices
And fears

I express myself
In a chemical stream
Of nervous energy

But,
What about the thinker
Where is he

Can I find him beneath
The seismic shifts
of an overactive consciousness
Does he envelope the activity
or
is he subservient to it
This enigma
I have been grappling with
My entire life

We must learn to sing
teach us of your ways of love
show me the rapture

see how the passion rises
shield me not from true loving

let us dance with joy
as we celebrate this life
painted with laughter

embrace innocence again
release the heart from malice

wide eyed innocence
blissful days of childishness
boys run after girls

embrace the cheerful laughter
remember days of your youth

in each beat of heart
listen to the melody
in high and low notes

That you know nothing
is forever
nothing much
about us is known

this universe is a vast home
mundane for those who so want to feel
for those who follow
only there is no reprieve

I gently seek indulgence
of now
and
here

What is beyond, beyond
I don't know
nor,
do I fear

Know me just as a passer by
you will
as much as I will
all shall pass by

What are you looking for?
What did you see?
Going in or out?
What’ll it be?

Now you got me thinking.
Looking both ways in the mirror,
Just to see what’s behind of me.

And I hope you catch your dreams,
Go far like a wildfire,

Hope you found a sucker in me,

Go on
Just,
Not with me.

Pallid the sky 
bleached by summers sun 
ghost blue behind the standing trees
an audience to the heavens
that empty place 
we fill with our illusory ideas 
perfection in the geometry
of our joys and fears
make tangible our thoughts 
on strings of harps 
and angels wings

so many things we bring to life 
with our intense imagination 
creating peace 
disturbing peace 
no peace finding

Another evening on the deck
watching shadows grow in length.
Nothing to see this summer eve
as heat of day loses its strength.

Everything is green on green
on all thirteen types of tree
which adorn my big back yard.
A wasp flies by ignoring me.

Can't see the pond this time of year,
too many leaves block off the view
but a blue crane rises up from it
and heads toward roost as they all do.