Hallway to Nowhere

  • Stealing From My Mother’s Purse (Poem)

    I once took a dollar bill and a quarter from my mother’s purse

    not to spend but to contemplate

    why did this slightly crumpled printed thing and a shiny piece of metal

    mean anything at all

    I rubbed them both in turn between my fingers, fascinated by their texture

    unable to determine if the bill were paper, fabric, or something in between

    liking the ridges on the edge of the coin

    ( I can identify this one when I can no longer see, I thought)

    I carefully put them back, still mystified as to their value

    many years later I remain so, the best explanation being

    they’re part of our collective fairy tale, childish playthings

    we’ll abandon when we grow up

  • Stray Clips and Bits of Thread (Poem)

    angular bones and plain flesh

    hatched by scars hard won through time

    considered answers to genuine questions

    though replies appear wild cards

    they’re never drawn from an unknown hand

    sometimes they address the silent plea

    one unvoiced that speaks so loudly

    it cannot be ignored except to be unkind

    thus the responses that seem nonsensical

    no matter, tuck them down into some side pocket

    find them one day when they are needed

  • Sea Glass In The Foothills (Poem)

    all was gray or darker gray or blue that shaded into gray

    except for one streak right above the mountains

    the opaque green of sea glass glowing right there

    there at the horizon, there where you had to pay attention

    there so that you noticed the light

    one to carry into your dreams, one to remember

    one to shine in wonder when your heart turns to ash

    thereby to transform it into a beacon

    om tare tuttare ture soha

    (a bridge to a source of kindness and compassion)

  • Gyps and Corvids (Poem)

    when vultures kettle in the sky

    catching thermals with their broad black wings

    what do they feel as they circle and glide

    crows can hold grudges but will also befriend

    and retain their reasons for a very long time

    so perhaps when vultures descend to a wake

    as they gather to begin their venue

    they pause for a moment of brief recognition

    that a being just like them will be their meal

  • Desolate (Poem)

    I would give up this heart these bones

    such broken fractured things

    stitched together with fraying thread

    strung with tiny bits of pearl

    mending a constant futile task

    the hour short as night falls fast

    and I am wearied beyond my words

  • Charm and Look (Poem)

    another year gone but what does it mean

    my heart broke at her death his and even my own

    this happens each moment so not a good measure

    ground that echoes each heavy step does not hold me

    I fall through endless lives to walk this street

    and carry all the time I have but here

    do you need it

    I fill your hands to overflow with eons and the sound of love

    don’t blink

  • No Still Voice (Poem)

    should I hear a voice in this turbulent wind

    I would laugh and ask it to sing

    sermons already abound in this world

    wisdom too can be found if sought

    joy always seems in shorter supply

    so give us a wild song to which we can dance

    later when we’ve gone to sit by the fire

    then we will ponder the mystery of it all

  • What I Carry (Poem)

    some things I learned that will not leave me

    although I can sometimes leave them

    the weight and shape of loneliness

    a piece of furniture that travels easily

    now hidden away in a back room

    still I have opened the door after a walk

    to find it sitting next to a table

    where I’ll let it be for awhile before storing it away

    the fragility of existence

    a book whose pages I turn again and again

    having found that the story ever changes

    the ending certain but the how of it unknown

    the unexpected gifts of love and kindness

    these I keep on full display

    scattered around as constant reminders

    ready at hand if someone has need

    they are the oddest of all, I’ve found

    by the giving away they only increase

  • Mountain Weather Advisory (Poem)

    the world displays itself in starkness, a noir landscape

    sky that luminous gray, the inhale before a storm

    trees more cadaverous than ever, suited to ravens and crows

    pavement black with remnants of rain, foretaste of what will come

    wind rises suddenly, shattering the calm into a frenzied beauty

    road cracks that imperfectly echo spindled branches disappear

    rushed to gone by bulleted rain sent from louring clouds

    stickled limbs themselves whip about in such agitation that birds depart

    and a shudder of sound moves up and down the ridge

    then as if by the wave of some unseen magical hand

    this stills and becomes an ordinary winter morning

  • If Wearied By This Year (Poem)

    this year that goes too slowly

    dragging its heavy time in the cold muck

    laying the weight of all that happens

    in the lowering grayness of the sky

    find a tree to lean against and close your eyes

    let it transform into what it always is

    a jewel tree that shimmers

    diamantine leaves and crystalline branches

    laden with multihued gemstones

    rainbow light dispersing in all directions

    and you hear laughter, joyous and bouyant

    to find upon opening your eyes

    that it comes from you as you walk away

    into the freedom of just each moment

    the year still begging with untamed need

    holding its burdens up for you to claim