Before our writing

Create water first

This the spring

Of clarification..

Then the beauty

Of that which

We clarify

Breaks through...

A lonely scene
By Edward Hopper
Bright light and
Clear glass..
Our perspective is
Outside in..
We see enclosed
In darkened frame
Lingering characters
Seated alone in
Clarity and precision
Cold and forlorn..
It's the polarity
Light and shadow
Before they find
The connection
of These...

is framed by
Rain darkened branches
Together with
Reflecting morning sun..
These juxtaposed with
Readings mention of
Humility and awe..
Which now serve as
Field and frame
Blue Jay and all...

Those unexpected
Occurrences..
Lost keys and forgets
Seem as threats
To our wholeness..
We sense flaws
In our makeup
Those trips
And falls..
Yet we must try
For new bearings..
These events
These breaks
Are the substance
And the fuel for
New awareness
Of growth
Of new Wholes...

Astoundingly
In our time
Observation
Is really creation..
That which seems
Found out there
Reflects as mirror
The creation
Of one observing..
This whole matrix
Imagine enwrapping
And filling
Each and all..
Our work
This evening
To awaken
To the mirror's
Fearful message...

The encounter
Each time now
Is a touch
Brief and knowing
And whole..
A preview of
The future
No words
One consciousness
To another
Will be enough...

The immersion we feel
Stillness seems so rare..
Meditation leads us to
Those places of nature
Wind and birds setting
Such are deemed pleasant..
Returning then to
The traffic
The leaf blowers..
Might we then
Realize all ripples
as Noise
Looking for the
Common disturbance
of Stillness...?

Our life Question
Who am I..?
Jonah means Dove
and he found
his Answer
Yet chose to run..
The continuing Tale:
Influence on sailors
Wish for death..
Overboard
Swallowed
Dark and Deep
Yet finding again
his Answer..
Which he held
through blazing Sun
a wilting tree
a cunning worm..
Do we know
Who are We...?

Not obvious
Nature's
other dimension..
but with hesitation
there appear
pointers
and similarities
quick vistas of
Singularity..
These glimpses
behind fragments
are new experiences:
slight altered states
of consciousness..
quiet stimulants
of fleeting joy..
In remaining day
expectations rise
for finding more
cracks in that
Conspiracy...

A large puddle
and water resumes
a calm reflection
of cliffs above..
The same water
in recent hours
found new voice
raging and tearing
expressive duality..
Placid once now
a surgical knife
carving new paths
through roadbeds
and homes..
We reflect
as water beings
hope for calm
to mitigate our
storms...

Do we have courage
To write our own..
Turn to our past
Open those portals
Long since bypassed..
Not fleeing once open
Lingering there and there..
Dark passages then
Turning new sides
Textures now strange
Strange and renewed..
Bright lanterns then
Strangely are dim..
All is perspective
Dimensions to gain..
New Name today
What Name might
Portals of tomorrow
yet bring...?

One of nine
Greek goddesses
is the definition..
She rises in finery
adorned in her
Greek duality..
But that other
Muse the verb
is a turning
a meditation of
movement..
This is the
singular Goddess
the presence
which gives life
to our attractive
Greek friend...

the cat
quite elegant with
tuxedo no tail
home alone..!
Dan went traveling
across the divide..
I served as
  treat bearer with
anticipated arrival..
After dining on
flesh of the tuna
Deo in lengthy
hair care coiffure..
Interrupted only by
neighborhood noises
of night..
Imagining those
memories of fright
in this feline's
youthful stray life..
Eyes fearsome wide
Ears shifting alert..
But no harm
returning to now..
Tongue's last stroke
bath and bed
Monday is over...

Preparation seems long
Long those days
Delays with passing..
Many hesitations stall
Still we're asked to
Write our Song..
Those scary leaps
Many are forsaken
Then our Song
Most remarkably
Leads us on..
Our Song invites
Find me there
Between Silence
and words
In that space
Know our energy to
Write our Song...

Scientists with
peering satellite deep
finds startling news..
If Genesis to us
means Big Bang
just that once
we need pause
and prepare..
satellite finds Cycles
circular patterns
movement sublime
a Story before:
chaos to order to
chaos once more..
Now a vision
Genesis beginnings
in timeless eons
in time's seasons
beauty not ceasing...

Landscapes
easily overwhelm
but with persistence
each is multitude
of relational smaller..
recognize and
watch it expand
fill the mind
and universe...

In our modern
Quantum knowing
entanglement claims
the one reality..
Alas if all
is so entangled
some might say:
These are weeds
much overgrown..
To our rescue
Are two grounds
Fore and Back
new clarity arrives
finds the reality
Beauty deserves...

Oft maligned in
our Newton homes
Where out there
is what Is..
But this Is
is darkening as
our days prolong..
Cries for connection
are arousing
desire for dawn..
a gift forgotten
this lifeline
cord...

The eye of
his camera in
timeless juxtapose  
finds the meaning
of the life
we live..
two children
emerging from a
dark forest place
find a lighted
garden of discovery..
A country doctor
braces from wind
rendering service to
those caught in
that same forest..
his wish to
rescue childhood
which now weighs
distant and dim...

Real learning we
learn from
a red bicycle..
Movement is
conversation of
oppositions..
Without conversation
differences reign..
We soon find
multiplicity growing
and peace disturbed..
Red reminds us
each difference relates
to other differences..
Relating is unifying
bringing the peace
Red turns Blue...

a periphery
word seems key
to each her own
identity..
the painter explores
what is out there
in forest and sea
finding those words
which other painters
have already stroked..
our perennial question:
where is originality
or is this distinction
simply and always
Tangential...

motorcars and cycles
weaving the fabric
of surround sound..
a dog barks
a honking horn
distant siren
these cut the fabric
offer their names..
is this picture
a dark iteration
of the Field
with creation
interrupting...

evening reflection
of departing Sun
tonight three quarters
brilliance and shadow
awaiting new evening
a fuller reflection..
our shadows are
of varying fractions..
might we hope
for a fuller moon
on some days...

We compose our
poems
each unique voice
from our source
experience of life
ebb and flow..
finding our words
do they speak
to the poet alone..?
or need we
constrict
find a clarity
to converse
favoring those..
not to forget
our original flow
elevating restoring
a unique soul...

A friend's kitchen
disturbed and
my mouse entries
must be sealed..
This day dawns
planned disruptions
What is disrupted..?
is our experience
one of

Disrupted disruption..?
what then if
Mindfulness blooms:
surrounding wholeness
welcomes disruption
with expectations of
delicacies looming
mice denied entrance
filtered colors ablaze...

a withdrawal
from
cycle of life..
water
cycling since
primordial times..
afternoon rainstorms
diminished..
that rain from
earthly stimulation
now her flow
interrupted impure..
is now time
for fracturing
or for
joining and
return...?

deeply
solar plexus
cells
even stones..
imagination
forms and
colors
rising and
falling..
each cycle:
the many
gathers and
transforms
to light..
and light
to
the many..
each and
All breathes...

as writing poetry..
of surprise
of beauty
of pattern
of symmetry
of unity..
these may be
the true Joy...

CharlesC*

*"I wouldn't bother to start a poem if I already knew the ending.
The pen is not just a recording device; it can also be an
instrument of discovery."

—Billy Collins

ancient advice
for meal consumption..
tending livestock first
will bid well..
subdue their hunger
that part
of our soul..
food then satiates
tasted by senses
with flavor sublime
in pineal unity...

when
ecstasy blooms and
landscape turns to
soaring flight..
these are times
our light within
experiences our
soaring...

of our poem..
intent is first
then a clearing
a sweeping for
quiet space..
now the paradox:
quiet is marked
made darker
finding room
for the verses
to come..
quiet returns
voiding yet joining..
female and male
twilight and dawn
and our poem
is conceived...

Carved in mud
horseshoe tracks..
he asked me
then remembered
she was correct..
literal reality here
now verified..
One track though
symmetry double
only this one
with appearance
holder and candle..
consciousness is
energized by
coherence
of difference..
nature reflects an
image of flame...

Thus far 400,000
species discovered
a quantity dissonance
ghastly overwhelming..
40% of insect species
30% of all animals..
worthy representatives
of animal kingdom..?

Greek named
Coleoptera
not Cleopatra..!
"sheathed wing"
potential flight..
pheromones
stimulate and gather..
Vibrations join
with all creation..

Similarities
these big four:
Adephaga
Archostemata
Myxophaga
Polyphaga
land and aquatic..
Air Fire Water Earth
complete with

surprise members:
Ladybugs
Fireflies
Lightening bugs
allusions to
Fortune and Light....

We live with
much forgetting..
morning in-sight
fades with the
grasping day..
hourly demands
split and cover..
yet is life
enriched
when we find
re-membering
springing from
dark ground of
forgetting...

she uses this
formula
her silent retreats..
sitting seems upper
writing lower..
walking connects
feet to earth
spine to sky
finding movement..
hand and pen
in motion
word flow
reflecting...

not what
but how
the artist arrives
at the notes
we see..
a whole lifetime
birth entry until
last brushstroke..
struggle and elation
work in progress
until our moment..
path of mystery
the framed photo
the dance twirl
represents...

AAA works too..
ubiquitous battery
teaches much more
reaches far beyond
a trusted flash-light..
this small cylinder
plus on top
minus below
gold over black..
opposite poles in
lasting conversation
each with the other..

In the conversation
Sage's parables reside..
remember the prodigal..
Buddy left early
took his pouch
a descent to AA's
darkened pit..
but gold above
finally grabbed his
scattered attention..
return to AA's
gold we don't
need to mention..

Lessons profound
from our humble AA:
gold or black
are never alone
cosmic conversation
neverending..
we name
many poles:
heaven and earth
light and shadow
creator and creation
good and not-so-good..
polarity in Oneness
the Secret..
at last we
Awaken...!

Independence
celebrated..
some say outdated
in interconnected world..
yet world is fractal
these tissues joined:
similarity and difference..
Independence unfolds
identity and difference..
at other times
and especially today
similarity we praise
content are we
Similarity is
stimulated strengthened
enclosing our
4th identity...!