Poetry

I didn’t really know him to be honest his life story what I knew of him was from our acquaintance out at the beach our conversations I always felt a deep kinship now that he’s gone I can hear his voice in my head it’s calming he left doing what he had spent so much […]

Sun comes up bright in a spotless sky again. Where is the November that was, that old month of rain and fog? Amaryllis’ poke out strong green leaves one week after I cut October’s wasted stalks. Did they forget about winter to come, how they used to bide their time or is this their spring […]

Who am I, when it’s overwhelmingly dark? Who am I, alone in this expanding gloom? Who am I, staring at weakly flickering candles? Who am I, writing in this otherwise unlit room? Who am I, untethered from the global clatter? Who am I, in this quiet city amid stark and present stars? Who am I, […]

Without, the land still flows with blood, A likeness of my day: Earth’s creatures moan, in fire and flood And God must look away. But here, my vagrant spirit might Draw in the crystal air And mark, in music’s purest light The toad, the sheep, the hare. This is not my century! Sin’s stain has […]

—in memory of H.L. Redwood roots feel the Eel pooling and pulsing, dammed by February king tides, over spilling banks, dissolving fragile underpinnings, fueling turbid streams. Flood dispatches downed timber, loosens fallen logs from the forest floor, threads the dead among the living, to join armadas of fast-moving slash pulled downstream. As autumn turns to […]

Forty black brant in league with the moon dropped from the evening to the bay. We did not dive in to the gold night sea, the dog and I. Monte Merrick

People’s Liberation Army             soldiers             corrected             turbulence on June 4, 1989 at the Square of Heavenly Peace                                     rewarded with                                     commemorative                                     wristwatches from the emperor. The chum                         under treads on red pavement too much taste to scrape the marmite off the toast.

Resting on my kitchen counter Lies a nest of ruby red tiny tomatoes Each complete in its skin Their size this summer out-selling the more robust ones. All the markets’ approval Have been summed up (More than likely by Google) The first summer of its kind to revel in the winning cup. A fruit thus […]

Fall fly, you poor immobile beast, cool weather has clipped your wings. No darting, no buzzing like before; just a quiet hanging out, life in the fast lane reduced to inaction; a lurking, a crawling, perhaps interrupted by a short hop, but only when disturbed. But I am disturbed no more. No stalking is needed […]

A blessing on your contrasts, Arcata– baseball caps and dreadlocks, bicyclists and bikers, Budweiser 12-packs vying to outnumber Downtown Browns. Nuclear free zone where a 100 foot American flag waves beside the lupine-lined highway. Dodge turbo diesel pickups roar past homemade bio-diesel subcompacts. Bless white blossoms drifting to the sidewalk, whiffs of ganga wafting from […]

On a socked-in foggy day A group of singers gathered Choosing songs, one by one Voices blending, layered. Celtic, pop, traditional Melodic pleas for peace The fourteenth century’s John Ball Chanted for equality. A masterful guitarist An A cappella song or two Lifting our hearts and spirits As circles are wont to do.

From our silent little home between the sea and the bay We hear the waves; we almost hear the spray A light mist comes around to drizzle and drip Nearby, winds in spruces whisper and whip Down the road, Japanese roosters cry kokekoo American cockerels call cock a doodle doo Our Korean rooster replies kokioo, […]