You often find in strangers
what’s missing in yourself
The plus and minus forces
their magnet strongly felt

It’s easiest to outline
and trace the empty space
Of what’s filled in by others
—that you cannot embrace

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

Under a sullen, unloving sky,
Caught off guard by the searching rain,
She flees to shieldlike canopies.
A pilgrim on the path of shadow
Ever tethered to the flame.
Enslaved to the way of fire
Sycophant of the eternal blaze.
Condemned to spend the end of days
Wandering wastelands of the Sun,
Forever exiled from the shade.

In the darkness she would remain,
If only she would have her way.
Cocooned in shells of memory
Fogs of war,
Ill explained.
Though the forest chatter
Never quite sounds the same,
The pitter patter
Pauses,
Secrets encoded in the rain.
Her frail wings lay broken
Breath comes barely when spoken,
Offspring away upon the wind.
Though they took no time to notice
The darkness roars forth and shows us

We have our own fires to attend.

”Are you in?”
said the revolutionist

“Or are you out?”
said the gambler

“What are you on?”
said the pusher

“What are you about?”
said the philosopher

“What are you of?”
said the professor

”Where are you at?”
said the explorer

“Do you feel?”
said the poet

Melodies
of fluid nature.
Rainfall’s
pacifying calls.
Peaceful humming
of forest rapids.
Mountain’s waterfalls
echoing on and on
Nature’s streaming song.




Shell ✨🐚