law and imagination
these are partners
within and among..
our written constitution
imagined long ago
from a dialogue crucible..
a written formula
compressed and contained
oral argument struggles..
this body fractures
without dialogue's
renewing blood flow..
in history's initiation
shifting power slides
in that early time
betwixt edges and center..
our constitution lives
runs and returns
within each citizen's
imagination...

many are those
walking their dogs
fixing clinging chores
upon morning rising..
favoring this path
for cleansing of soul
early preparing for
post noontime creation..
many others find
clarity and vigor
with gifted sleep
leashes are pegged
creation stands first
filling those hours
ere afternoon dawns..
perhaps those dogs
hold a secret
our increase to learn:
those different paths
uniquely nourishing  
really are one...

each of us
in those sometimes
seem as projectors..
not unlike those
old movie projectors
filtering the light
telling the stories
moldings on screen..
in our sometimes
we depart our
many contradictions
fly to a widening
vantage in stillness
surveying the multiples
and traumas below..
our own light
projects and selects
finding stories in
swirls most complex..
we might wish
to declare:
we are creator
of the story we
now see...

seeing our chunks
of time Whole..
when frustrations
and mistakes
cry out for
sole recognition..
then is time
to encase these
irritating formations
in expanding wrap..
morning quiet stopping
sitting with dark
looking inward now
finding these nettles
lodged softly inside..
might we then
stand and walk
..free...?

the controversy swirls
creation opposes evolution..
does new dialogue suggest
new truth in sight..?
those creation days with
evolution eons backdrop
seem as quantum jumps..
yet within those days
find sequential building..
an evolutionary microcosm
in our genesis..?
then in evolution's depth
some leaps appear
fossil record blanks..
quantum microcosms
in darwinian time..?
perhaps a middle gestalt
quantum evolution..?
third eye discovering
new Light...?

the meaning
confounding sometimes..
it seems this morning
a simple awareness of
double dimensions..
one named I
the other Me..Me often
poses as one's full name:
architect plumber wife
parent teacher homeless
these titles and more..
our rising and retiring
religions and science
joys and pain..
these names we know
yes 3rd dimension..

consciousness gently
steps in and asks
is there more to Me..?
the question pauses
waits for reply
often then departs
finding 3D living
quite enough for now..
yet the question persists
returning most often as
these names we know
seem empty and stale..
perhaps this time
something new
non-local
yes 4th dimension..

consciousness
not satisfied
still more to do..
the task pursuit
must now make sure
both dimensions
endure..
3D found as edging
yes this new Shore...

with swift stealth
soft paws lightly
pressing small cubits
of grass and space..
a feline presence
suggesting easy
sinking of her weight
then recovery..
a moving indentation
in my inner
enclosing Field...

who journals
out there..?
we know the priority
each new day
is a gathering of
those wrinkles and sticks
and seeing each whole
relating as they do
now to each other..
and then they reach
to something larger
new until now
unseen
until journaling entry
this moment...

transformations
sometimes seen as
magical events..
but let's track
a northward unity
and southward split..
one becomes three
and three one..
constant motion
these sensational trips
pulsations
found in
the heart of
cosmos and cell...

to the light
we are the names..
may we find
awareness today of
our special name..
inception and art
in higher flow
may we soon
know here below..
we wait for
morning light
and long to return
without further delay..
this new reality
two in one
one in two
each glorious day....

My work yesterday
I pursued with fire..
dead letters burned
letters with news
for countless intended
recipients Unknown..
news shadowed or light
these notifications of
paths NOT taken
met their end by
my flaming torch..
My role as destroyer
carried my reverie
ignited a wish
a blessing and curse
to finally know NOT..

My work today
new letters appear..
copying not burning
yet sorrows abide in
slow repetitive death..
I must rise
stand tall
Find face and soul
in that wall..
I must proclaim
I prefer NOT..
PREFER
this delicious word..
freedom's choice
tasted with short
bursts of joy..

Facing my wall
searching for NOT
into emptiness flowed
a bright wholeness
of  letters and light..
but a price to be paid
for other's disdain
they are forgiven for
not knowing NOT..
NOT holds those
letters I've known..
Ah humanity...*

Based on Herman Melville's
short story, "Bartleby
the Scrivener"

So much heartbreak
with strained attention
outside..
what's out there
strikes cords within..
some cords long ago
entrained
with out there..
perhaps less trauma
when we expect
contradiction out there
humility finds half-truths
halves in communion
beauty between..
holding in Tension..
power and joy
within...

For our children..
our creations
need an empty space
that they alone might grow..
our light then
must be withdrawn
Yet also remain..
this paradox of light
and of Life...

asking each daybreak
what might be
our story today..
does it enfold
those eddies and cracks..?
is clever ego coloring
special highs and lows..?
all of this seems
of sublime import..
this Story a mirror
an identification photo
we carry today..
yet might we remember
Story is parable
our Story today
was never before
and never will be...

it is said
are the measures
gradations of fib..
more white more truth
more black is worse..
with such entangling
where is found
purest lies and truth..?
then further
does truth birth lies
and lies the truth..?

are such words
to each
a mirror...?

at last
an arrival in
yesterday's nightfall
this fullness of light..
our preparation completed
by growing slices each night..
partials direct remembering
to light lost and then found
full dark and full light..
let's imagine the dark
naming now
a friend's painful rant
his questions are struggle
enclosing reason and doubt..
might his rant find itself
in lunar transformation
a new grasp of the whole..?
ranting and stimulating
as electrical pole..
return and flow
reaching and receiving
Full Light...?

what is sought
for grievances untold..
You are forgiven
in this moment
one path unfolds..
Or bending work
prescribed
to reach peace
for forgiver and
forgiven..
Let us ask
is this choosing
better resolved
in that place
where time and hurt
touch inner light..?
then we hear
You are forgiven
Now as
work begins...

a search outside
often finds darkness
in our other..
we hope for
penetrating warmth
our furnished light..
We ask
how our light
renews its flame..
enter Escher with
his tiled lizards..
we see the fitting
without any gaps
scaled symmetry
and no overlaps..
this oneness display
feeds inner light..
our new inside
and out...

through the lace
mirrored reflections
on a tiled floor
morning light variations..
remembering the sun
brilliance beyond
filtered reflections here
on lace and floor..
then I heard
the sun is lace
to a light refined..
and that light...

massive flooding data
with fingertip suggestions
authority assertions..
our longing rises
for calm correspondence
and peaceful correlation..
but splitting continues
with mounting pain..
new vessels we need
very desperate need
for patterns to shape
those complex splits..
when vessels emplaced
we stand guard
informing screaming data
now gather or go...

you might blame
Adam and Eve...!

increase and decrease
brilliance and shadow
these pairs appear as
wax and wane..
in her wane she
restrains that light
preparing a room
birthing again our
shadowed creation..
the blinding wax
shines then hides
then shines again
a monthly pulsation..
careful to preserve
his precious creation
cradled within..

in times as ours
sharp compressions
pinch our insides..
and mirror
perfect storms outside..
these our possessions
our very own
black holes
out there
in here..
all seeking room
to transmute relieve..
a birthing rise
a burdened delight
a Flow introduced...

our toruSelf...

beginning to end
life's pulsing flow
yes oxygen delivery
what is more..?
bonding with Now
a hidden de-light..?
inhale is reaching
pathway to light..
exhale
descending creating
with shadow
thickening sometimes
outside and curving..
inhale once more
center stream rising
pinpoint of light
growing surrounding
bathing..
then exhale calling
to tend our creation..
and then...

Now and then...

(painting by Alex Grey)

an awkward title perhaps
but may present
a vision of patience
varied in shades..

our neighbor's dog
extraordinary not at all
relishes like others
daily sniffing exploration..
Norm with dog
seen tethered together..
control however
very hard to discern..

on certain streetcorners
with odors exploding
Norm with dog
share equally
decisions to move on..
some neighbors say
it's patience we find
life's lesson displayed..

patience has colors
shades of suffering..
yet on this walk
two carry a leash
joining senses of discovery..
we neighbors might see
brighter Lighter
shades of Patience...?

the afterlife
so much is said
speculation and hope..
after all of this
might new perspective
bring fulfillment Now..?

this mystery Now
claims amazing power
sculpting a modern
but most ancient tower..
Now diminishes rank
of our favorite tools..

space and time
stand subordinate to
the encompassing Now..
Now ever transforming
becoming the richer
when in-sights lift..

Now seems both
home and pathway
these two faces
creating each other..
Now.. removes that "after"
from worn afterlife...

Now is Life...?

the end of
a process is
known as outcome..
our outcomes formed
in planning and visions..
all ends embedded
in those beginnings..

but a danger lurks
when our awareness
of process idles..
process is struggle
mitigated by joy
living this moment
crying out Now..

vital experience between
departure and arrival
stimulates both
beginning and end..
when process forgotten
dogma and fundamentalism
these cousins loom...

x + y
thus two things
entangled as one..
neither can exist
all alone..
might that little +
create those things..?

can we then
find ourselves as +
as creator between..?
are we entanglers
(co-) creators...?

when stepping higher
now we are Ms x
or perhaps Mr y..
and Who then
is the +..?

are we and
a Creator
so conjoined...?

Vibrating Words

In our
speaking and hearing
words akin to solid things
oftentimes standing alone..
the weight of many nouns
fills our logic and comfort
our progress and pain
until now..?

new times demand
enjoined conversations..
resonances which reach
to levels obscure..
processes and verbs
waking sleeping nouns..
each word an experience
simple vibration
or nothing at all...?

is an edge
a border line
north of the line
find spare scarcity  
abundance resides south..
a life fulfilled is
a precarious walk
on that edge..
our stumbling arises
when this line
becomes smudged
south appears north
north seems south..
when bearings are lost
we have forgotten
abundance and scarcity
are siamese twins..
one is by
the other defined..
both are needed
to ply our way
survive on the edge..
to find again and
in each moment
the illusive
Enough...

is there
more to see
out there midst those
lonely rocks and snow..?
artists of vision
find much more..
Van Gogh's rocks and trees
pulsate color and form..
our narrower focus
reveals cold winter pain..
by widening
may we find heat
vibrating the stillness
somewhere between..
thereby we locate
where compassion lies
the joy the light
real beauty's home...

so small
yet with unfolding
possibilities as
a cyprus a redwood..
similarity with storied
chicken and egg..
some say
the vast universe
simply a seed
one more example..
an ovoid shape
with energy flow..
not excluding ourselves
clothed in our
magnetic shell..
might we all
stay at home
seeing all
right here...?

/ge'SHtalt/
"An organized whole
that is perceived
as more than
the sum of
its parts.."

the lordly elephant
is that whole
with all of
those strange parts..
do parts perceive
their life subsumed..?

and of our body
and parts
brother elephant is
our model..
but what of our
body as part..?

or the elephant
as part..?
how strange those
whole elephants
must be
up there...!

we wake
each day
to decorate..
she saw the
moment
the brief flare..
decorations lit
two candles
one flame..
there and gone
returning to
the day
lingering glow
and the rose...

These Connections
join our I
to our me..
standing alone
me multiplies with
colors and pain..
I alone is
blinding light..
Connections make
a homeplace:
light and color
with pain
and joy...

a lonely figure
in silence appears
each Christmas year..
might we make his
place more secure..?
recall his namesake
in Egypt's deep past..
Joseph the Viceroy
with many travails
observes a descent
with ascent foreseen..
let us then imagine
this newer Joseph
in silent watch
pondering his name..
with swift recognition
of the ancient Formula
which eternally repeats:
our many steps down
are concealed within
that One step up..
energy so flows
hidden messianic
Light...

one pine tree
resplendent in symmetry
another year at home
her snowbound *****..
apparently not destined
not this year
for light display
with sacrifice death..
roots still grounded
and a treetop pointing
to bright starlight above..
through a sturdy trunk
rooted sparks do flow
upward..rejoining
the glow..

one pine tree
resplendent in symmetry
another year at home
on her snowbound *****..
apparently not destined
not this year
for light display
with sacrificial death..
roots still grounded
and a treetop pointing
to bright starlight above..
through a sturdy trunk
rooted sparks do flow
upward..rejoining
the glow..

cold and snow
without..
fireplace flickers
within..
hot coals stimulate
rising flames with
tips we notice
do not locate...

that linear time
our watches portray
long labored to measure
our history
our transports
our rents
and our stress..
this servant will not
of course
die this Friday..
but may begin
a humble recognition
of its residence
through all ages
within a more unbounded
joyous yet fearful
home..

those daily excursions
travels so necessary
point A to point B
are there grooves
long before emplaced..?
then finding ourselves
in pleasant surprise
driver as passenger
awaking in dream..
finding new vision
this more en-lightened
Transport...