Mankind with progress vision,
Saw a pretty penny or a grand.
Yet many monsters of destruction,
And pollutants spoilt our land.

A sale without conditions,
Or a box without a key.
Brought a heart that's ever hardened,
By a veil we cannot see.

But there are grains of sand across the ocean,
And multitudes of stones from far away,
In courageous restoration,
When safe from those who slay.

The tip of each leaf ends precisely
where sunshine greets it so nicely
its bark, an old weathered coat
feeds the quaint Yellowthroat
with a bug or two
refreshing dew
crown to ground
profound
tree

Many, many decades later,

Subtrahend— —the thief of

time—had stolen years,

whittling away youth

with quiet precision,

leaving only memories as souvenirs.

Minuend, proud and steadfast,

stood firm against life’s relent-

less subtractions, holding onto

laughter,

unyielding, even as the seasons

adjusted the equation.

Difference, a wanderer,

measured space between

our footprints, sometimes vast,

sometimes mere inches—

—always shifting but never lost.

Mowing the lawn
Something in the bottom of the little finger
Of the left hand glove
Keeps stinging like a bee

Turn it inside out and there’s nothing to see
What does this mean?

Not everything is message or metaphor
Nor each passing thought
A reliable or worthy prompt to put
Pen to paper
Fingers to keyboard
To see where it may lead

Nagging thoughts flood no matter
What’s the use of trying to shut them out

If she meets me on the dawn
The way between ways
I'll know her by her ancient name

The black in her eye
The glass of her hair
The blossom of her lifting breasts
Beneath her glittering mantle
The gaze which is human
But not quite

And what have you done
With the gift God has planted in you
Have you squandered it on
The wounds of love
Or have you raised an eye to me

Pieces of Shaya
are everywhere in Faye's and Charles' place.
I see the way he is present
and it is very different
from the way it is with me.
I looked at the photos
in the living zone of their house.
The photos I took,
of when Faye and Sarah
were very small.
That kiss on the cheek
that Sarah gave to him,
I just continued to stare
because it moved me so much.

Vultures swooped overhead
and preyed on my vulnerabilities
forcing me to carrion camping
as fine young cannibals
sharpened their knives
and licked their lips
while eyeing me as their naked lunch
bound and gagged
as a huge cauldron bubbled
awaiting yours truly as human sacrifice
preparatory to be boiled alive
shorn of clothes
embarrassingly in the buff
with me pot bellied gut
and spindleshanks for legs
presenting a poor excuse
and laughing stock of Homo sapiens

The view
God’s gift to us
Nature given with joy
Filling our hearts and minds with awe
Wonder

Not so long, by and by
from off shores, far and wide
my dear ancestors came to be
in the heartland I call home, now
where Indigenous feet walked free.

Ships and steamers, lean and loud
filled with dreamers, poised and proud
crossed a hungry, untamed sea
toward a new land, with a strong vow
declaring their democracy!

On the soil, thick and red
humans suffered, scorned and bled
as the land once claimed to be
"The New World" they called home, now
as far as the eye could see.

You are my favourite mistake.
I choose you,
every single second,
even when you hurt me.

I will keep choosing you.
I will keep standing by you.
You let me in. I let you in.

Now, I know, I don't need 10 fingers,to beg for mercy.

Finito.