The Effulgent Ballad
June 2, 2014 § Leave a comment
The night before
we parted ways,
I lay on my side
the world singing soft carols,
a luminous and constant hymn.
Or maybe it was just you.
A glowing beacon stands
tall and fir green,
growing out of the mahogany wood beneath.
It wouldn’t belong at another time or place,
like we don’t belong in this sweeping valley
engulfed in a veil of night.
But of course it’s here,
and so are we.
Your voice, still pressed to my damp ear,
comes in choppy blurs,
like over a short wave radio.
It breaks and breaks and breaks–
the lights are everywhere,
but especially in the memories of you, or us?
They come in scorching rays. Bright blissful rays
that hurt. We don’t belong,
but here we are.
My eyelids fall in a watery glaze
that convolutes the shining scene
and with each blink the light bends
and the fiery kaleidoscope of reds and golds
morphs. First a mournful face,
then a spinning carousel,
a pulsing, burning, beaming, starburst,
a lonely sailboat in an aqueous field.
The scent of luminosity; of pine.
The lights hanging and crossing make your voice
a dizzying spell.
It chants, radiating
words that fall and hurt
and break. The mournful face tries to smile
and wish the world goodnight.
“Listen,” you say.
But the light is all I hear.
from Sun Dance 2012
you
May 29, 2014 § 2 Comments
you asked the other night
why I smile so much,
why my eyes remain open
beneath gravity’s touch
and it’s really all because
of wispy clouds in the sky,
and how birds sing out
to their friends passing by
it’s because of my sister
who sings as much as the birds,
it’s the simplicity of letters
turning into words
it’s pressing keys and humming
to a tune unheard before,
it’s a letter from the past
and taking time to explore
it’s the magic that happens
when you’re up at four a.m.,
it’s the winding path we wander
in search of something grand
it’s pie and how the ocean tastes
all the things we’ll never know,
it’s oblivion, it’s wonder
and aimless footprints in the snow
and it has to be the stars
and how they’re never from view,
the way the sun always rises
or perhaps, it’s only you.
to write
May 25, 2014 § 2 Comments
It’s so difficult to count
everything and all of it
and remember
the best of it, the worst of it
I can’t fathom the thought
of forgetting any of it, the rest of it
so I write it down
to live it again and again
the joy of it, the end of it,
the all of it
If
May 22, 2014 § 4 Comments
if I made a wish
to float above the trees
and dip my toes
into glassy seas
would it ever match
the pure joy and ease
of unplanned and pure
spontaneity?
Tune
May 14, 2014 § 1 Comment
the same song
every time, a familiar sound
pushing me swiftly through
a tunnel of light on runaway pavement
turning time into traveled miles
and wind, sharp and cold and alive
making hair dance and lifting
hands skyward, that same song
we played that nervous night
in the rain, I always hear it when
I see superheroes and blue dice
and parking lots at night, a road ahead
and stars
Mom
May 12, 2014 § 1 Comment
How many times
have you taken my hand
and led me swiftly
toward a haven of comfort
How often
have you assured me
that despite my broken heart
life is still wonderful
How is it that
you give so selflessly
every single day
and never run out of love
How many times
have you told me
that I am good enough
and made me believe it too
For how many hours
have you listened
and listened and hugged
at exactly the right moment
How can I tell you
how much your guidance means,
for teaching me to be joyful and thankful
and most importantly, kind
How can I thank you
for loving me always
and so unconditionally
every single day of my life
I love you Mom
-S
the search
May 8, 2014 § 2 Comments
inspiration rests
on roses and mountain tops,
between storied pages and hemispheres,
among rushed crowds and hands held,
it comforts prayerful knees,
and falls in time with pouring rain,
it’s the voice on the other end,
and the stars on my dashboard,
and it rests quietly, profoundly,
always before us,
but always within.
catch
May 8, 2014 § Leave a comment
it was never all at once
it was better that way
like the paper plane
you floated toward me
veering east, then west
and eventually landing
in my outstretched hands
Inquiry
May 4, 2014 § 1 Comment
Does anyone else ever wonder
what time really means?
And what if everything in this life
is just a figment of our dreams?
If there was nothing, anywhere,
then what would even be?
And why is it that our life story
is just one incredible mystery?
companion
May 2, 2014 § 3 Comments
to understand
another, is so beautiful
and complex. we try
our whole lives
each and every day
to connect and find
a common ground
that somehow joins
the island of theirs
with yours. it’s purely
remarkable
when our tiresome search
suddenly relents. we spy
that small expanse
of terrain, shared space,
and we want to lay
on that welcome ground
for hours,
maybe even years
discovering what brought
us to this place
and wondering, with intensity,
how we can keep it
like this
forever
rosepoems 