Hallway to Nowhere

  • Ethos Of An Incluse (Poem)

    This is why I prefer to avoid the hue and cry of crowds.

    The surface conviviality of group encounters

    Does not come easily to me.

    I would far rather engage with one person

    And have a brief but meaningful conversation.

    I am uninterested in simply oiling the mechanism of polite flow.

    Tell me something true and real that matters to you,

    Else simply smile (or not) and walk past.

    I like that better than chit-chat about the weather.

    Unless you are a farmer.

    Then the weather is of utmost importance.

    I’ve learned to listen, a most useful skill,

    And nod and make social-approval noises.

    Then I make my way home,

    Convinced more than ever

    That I am not really human

    And merely dwell among you,

    Always a stranger in a very strange land.

  • Deep Being (Poem)

    Layer upon layer upon layer

    Faceted as petals

    Endless as waves

    Infinite in time and space

    Breathe in, breathe out

    Rest in impermanence

    (Inspired By A Piece OF Nancy Garretson’s)

  • How To Count (Poem)

    How to delineate a life lived?

    Let us use not temporal posts of days or years

    But limn the finer measure

    Of love given and received

    Of kindness extended with a free hand

    Of compassion shown in minute and larger ways

    Of laughter shared with those around.

    Choose to see joy

    And continue to delight in our communal dance.

  • Late Summer (Poem)

    This is a time of abeyance,

    A lacuna before the coming of fall.

    The air shimmers with heat

    And the low buzz of insects.

    Rainfall offers little respite,

    Only plangent noise.

    How not to repine

    And search for a proem

    In cooler nights and darkening days?

  • Early Morning (Poem)

    Early morning, a liminal time,

    When the tenebrific skies seem poised

    On some obscure threshold.

    The air is quiet;

    No birds yet sing to herald the day;

    No wind or rain disturbs the transitory stillness.

    The moment awaits any assignation of meaning.

    For a brief few breaths,

    The world is simply as it is.

  • The Return (Poem)

    My grey-cloaked companion has returned,

    Their absence but a brief hiatus.

    They have brought the usual accoutrements:

    Worsening fatigue and malaise; a restless mind; heightened bodily aches;

    And, of course, emotional pain.

    I dared not think they would not be back

    At some point in time.

    But I had hoped to enjoy life a bit longer.

    Change is the nature of things, though,

    So I will endeavor to face this with equanimity

    And continue on my path.

  • Peripeteia (Poem)

    A slight anticipation, a catching of the breath,

    Heralds the moment of great change.

    The world tilts, and the possibilities

    Open myriad paths.

    What lies ahead on any of them?

    The only way to know is to proceed.

  • Enough (Poem)

    What is enough?

    The cooler air of evening

    After the heat of a summer’s day.

    The petrichor that heralds

    The relief of a dry spell.

    The bright color of tigerlillies

    Enlivening the yard.

    The peace found in mountains

    Distant with a covering of smoke.

    Any of these.

    All of these.

    Let us rejoice and be glad.

  • The State Of Not Being Present (Poem)

    The train sounds its mournful cry.

    They are gone now,

    No longer present to hear the whistle,

    To see the graffitied cars roll past,

    To feel the ground rumbling beneath their feet.

    I can say no more

    Let us have a cup of tea

    And offer the latest from China.

    But I can hold them fast

    In memory and by recounting the many stories

    Of how they lived while they were here.

    Love and all we shared does not disappear.

  • Life As It Is (Poem For An Aging Dog)

    We grow older together, you and I.

    Our gait has slowed,

    And hills are harder to climb.

    But we still dance in sometimes wild abandon;

    You can manage occasional astounding leaps.

    We spend our days quietly now,

    With me at my writing or with a book,

    You always at my side.

    I know that when I do go out,

    You worry and fret more,

    So that we are both relieved when I return.

    Always, always in my heart

    Is the knowledge that you are aging faster.

    I try to fill our time remaining

    With all the love and gratitude I can give.

    You have made life beautiful and wonderful and joyful

    In ways I never anticipated.

    Thank you, my beloved companion.