interim dragon

breaking fever

2007-01-08T02:03:00.000-07:00

rocked to the ground, crippled
in a cold sweat, I broke ground
I put my hand below the earth
and stroked the spine of life
wherefore I had left myself
and picked up my own heart
thrust down among the bones.

walking about

2007-01-08T01:58:00.000-07:00

you are the fear:

the necklace hung across heaven
for this night, and all nights after,
the gate to god under the tree,
the mountain aside, the riding breeze.

this soil grows
both panic and love.

the one day

2007-01-08T01:36:00.000-07:00

five times,
thrashing against the evening sky
I pinned all the hope to the sun, and
waited for it to set.

at the sunrise,
I found it newly scraped and stretched
drumming the voice
of the silent flight
wherein I caught it home;

striking my palm to the earth
all the trees nodded - tall, pale-capped truth
and I pulled the making from the ground
five winds up, far from the heart.

one cat night

2006-05-06T01:02:00.000-06:00

o softfooted
lightpawed
brighteyed night
longtailed night,
silkfurred night-
night with starglinting fangs,
night with cold claws.
night that takes us unaware
as we stare above the long grass of the sun.

enough

2006-05-06T00:59:00.000-06:00

I wish
that I'd stayed up
with the moon all night!

cliff

2006-05-06T00:57:00.000-06:00

stone of tree! rocky clasp of water
rocking to sleep all the bramble bushes
that embroider the shore.
the shells rattle a little sleep song
to the tired road above.

low lamp

2006-05-06T00:53:00.000-06:00

see there? all those stones
those standing wombs
were all carved for me,
and my entry from the sea.

none came before me, though
some came after;
of like I have none,
but all men are my kin.

the stave in the rock
was my first step
and the hollow of the hearth
was my first rest.

once I've ended
there will be no more beginnings
until I've done my rest
- until I've done my rest

following

2006-05-06T00:51:00.000-06:00

around the fingers
a snake
bites the tail
of every other;
one handclasp
before evening, parted.

place, NE

2006-01-17T00:07:00.000-07:00

long bristle-branch; duck!
thorns tear this way and that,
and at the end, the grass slips out
willing only for buttercups, and
some lighter wasps.

the two little bushes have little to say
even to each other; the stump
is always a fearful warning
and they fear to grow into it, and then
away from themselves.

at some point, the flowers made a name of it,
but seeing how indifferent the house remained
they sulked, and went away,
whilst we two inside grew,
and flaunted new colour.

accept

2006-01-17T00:06:00.000-07:00

at the corner of the road
knowing my love, I know
that everything is as it will be.

asleep behind

2006-01-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

vivid, my love lies dreaming
with patterns of fern and face
tangled up in his hair.
dark the lines of story
written by the clasping arms,
the shut eyes, weighted to the cheek.

as blind, I read the chapters
with curious hands—
the next part, and the next.

alberta

2006-01-16T23:59:00.000-07:00

the wilder spring: not melting
but lashing itself free of the earth
beating a frozen heart, like a drum,
to stir the warm war winds
against cold hordes.

considering the next month

2006-01-16T23:56:00.000-07:00

at the end of this, my spring in the year,
I can see the landslide, the dam bursting,
the washed-out roads, the flooded dwelling.
in the beginning of this, my spring of the year,
I shore up my houses, but I am afraid
that enough has been too little—
I cannot bind enough together
to stay above water.

the tense future

2006-01-16T23:54:00.000-07:00

the archivist
makes his work
at the end of the road—
every sharp corner
is a paragraph.

northwest

2006-01-16T23:52:00.000-07:00

against the wind, no head
lowered; no fear made
from lancing bursts
of cold, and colder ice.

grass still green, trees
sulkily retaining leaves,
while the few flowers
become convinced of a lying spring.

once it did snow, and then
even the tall pines were justified,
limbs spread like skirts in mid-dance.
as it melted, they withdrew.

winter theorem

2006-01-16T23:50:00.000-07:00

the wind is in seven directions;
in the centre, the cypresses
plot against it, and hold it down,
releasing it in the morning
for a gulp out of the sun.

pacific

2006-01-16T23:49:00.000-07:00

it lies sleeping; somewhere
between sea and shore,
branch and twig,
it curls with closed eyes
and dreams:
each landslide, each
temporary waking
is a seventh wave,
a knot in the bark.

Amergin

2005-11-23T00:59:00.000-07:00

I am the furnace of evening, the
quench of dawn; who but I
breaks the soul borning?

the thousandth
is as the first:
a loss without understanding.

measured

2005-11-23T00:57:00.000-07:00

winter:
the wind takes a step towards me
but I am in water;
each mother has something to ask,
some far question
with fewer answers.

back

2005-11-23T00:54:00.000-07:00

throughout the call
the tunnel of road,
tree, and sky
I am walking; through
the heart I am coming,
and the flesh too.

madonna

2005-11-23T00:53:00.000-07:00

madre de dios-
save, save us,
call us forth
when the world has swallowed us up.

praise

2005-11-23T00:49:00.000-07:00

I, the burning
wrote the names
freshly;
on the window,
on the door
with the white-hot hand
with the heart
called each name
to a door of the universe.
none but I, the quenched
rested behind the new door
the soul, shut fast.

flame

2005-11-23T00:47:00.000-07:00

the prayer, in the breath
in the mouth, in the soul;
the body, replying
I.

dawn

2005-08-28T02:21:00.000-06:00

we grow
afraid of ourselves
come morning.

deva

2005-08-28T02:03:00.000-06:00

o my heart
wails
the newborn heart
clutching
to the
loving one

the opening

2005-08-24T02:04:00.000-06:00

my mind paints you
with different colours;
pitch-black as tall pines,
blue as the evening restless wind,
and seagrass on high cliffs
touched by a little shadow,
a little light.

after three months

2005-08-24T01:59:00.000-06:00

beloved,
I am now
more used
to your body
than my own;
you
are the
new border
of the new moon
of my arms.

cry

2005-08-15T04:33:00.000-06:00

heard but did not listen
and the door
does not wait

sight

2005-08-15T04:25:00.000-06:00

the sun was new gold
dust was old gold
pitted and beaten
and even the night
was sewn up with gold
at both ends.
fortunately
we did not weigh it
until after it travelled
out of our hands.

prayer

2005-08-15T04:21:00.000-06:00

the palms of the hands
turned up
as leaves before the wind

ununderstand

2005-08-15T04:19:00.000-06:00

the song
is not long gone
from the singer

reverence

2005-08-12T03:30:00.000-06:00

call out in the evening
and, I promise,
I will make you a dawn.

careful

2005-08-12T03:24:00.000-06:00

this heart is the one heart
therefore, take care;
do not leave moments behind
as though you could gather them

don't toss them as alms - no one else
will pick up the thread where you left off
we dance in and out of the Beloved
but each heart is the one heart

therefore, take care.

knowledge

2005-08-12T03:23:00.000-06:00

o, you are not there;
you are here,
but you let me look for you.

prayer

2005-08-12T03:18:00.000-06:00

bright mother morning
scatter your paws across the horizon;
let your whiskers tap the tree on the shoulder,
let your tail brush the stars out of the sky.
one eye, winking, will be the late moon-
and your windy claws rap on the windows.
warm fur mother morning, bring me my day!

red

2005-08-12T03:16:00.001-06:00

o love
my head feels
the swing of your shoulder
even after
we've passed ways.

amusement

2005-08-12T03:16:00.000-06:00

as long as you
turn over in sleep
I'm awake, awake in dreaming;
my heart is awake
all night long.

imagery deformed

2005-08-12T03:14:00.000-06:00

the wind is outside, quick:
listen to the first leaf
falling out of summer.

query

2005-08-12T03:13:00.000-06:00

colour-born, don't
see in black and white-
you were given gold and silver
on the very first day.

bastet

2005-08-12T03:11:00.000-06:00

o, I will
pull the long tail
of the morning cat!

greeting

2005-08-12T03:07:00.000-06:00

in the morning
I come walking
unraveling my heart
for each wind
I come home again
at indigo
threaded
to each direction
spirit weaving world.

quarter call

2005-08-12T03:05:00.000-06:00

with the fire
is the derivation
of wood;

water spits
between branches,
digs through.

one mote of ash
flies; the rest
the wind ignores

- swinging back
and forth
the dirt settles

waiting

2005-06-30T13:13:00.000-06:00

beloved, don't fear;
the heart's morning
that can be dispelled
is not the true dawn
- the next sun will come
galloping over the horizon.

Litha

2005-06-21T10:55:00.000-06:00

one spear pierces the next;
from the balance of a shaft,
the world turns towards night
garlanded with blossoms
fading into dawn.

observation

2005-06-21T08:54:00.000-06:00

it is
a green and gold
morning—
just uncorked
and foaming over the edge
of the world.

it is the slow rising
of breath

interrupted
by the hard tapping of the heart
like a bird breaking out
to fly away.

outside, the chorus
goes on and on;
inside, we two
are still silent.

the apostle

2005-06-17T06:41:00.000-06:00

it is still a rare indigo
behind the curtain of the room,
and the bed breathes slowly
in black and white.

I am thinking of each breath
while I write out the morning
in long and joyful terms—

you are a joy
no more obtrusive
than the next breath, and the one after.

from one to the other

2005-06-17T06:40:00.000-06:00

quiet, bright, beautiful.

in all green worlds,
your laughter was the maker.

caution

2005-06-17T06:36:00.000-06:00

o beloved!

behind the walls of that wind
that I hear outside
you disappeared, for a long time,
and I was parched of thirst
at the bank of the river.

I threw up my arms
in despair!

and I brushed aside the curtain, and
there you were, laughing.

again and again, I do not listen
but that I am silent.
if I am to hear your voice
I must sing!

willful

2005-06-17T06:33:00.000-06:00

at dawn, I shake sleep off
into the wind, where someone else can use it.

all day long, I marvel
at the way I don't notice you;

the grace and comfort of your body
are as easy to me as mine,

and when, suddenly, I open my eyes,
the dawn is staring back.

relieved

2005-06-17T06:29:00.000-06:00

the road's stretching and twisting
towards the long line reposing ahead
and, maybe, once they met
with the line of the hills rising and falling
before waking apart.

resurrection

2005-06-17T06:28:00.000-06:00

like a seed
feed a little while, on the heart

thus, when to the sun opened
you will to me return

lovers' walk

2005-06-17T06:25:00.000-06:00

o, I admit
I don't rush towards emptiness —
at your side, like a new fool,
I savor the rich draughts
that you hand to me by the hour.

a little like

2005-06-17T06:23:00.000-06:00

for years I plucked
grass from the ground
and built houses.

the year after that,
I saw that the houses
were beyond the grass.

accept this one

2005-06-17T06:22:00.000-06:00

beloved, if you want to leave
go ahead;
you will see a figure in the distance
where I have been waiting all this time.

opening up

2005-06-17T06:20:00.000-06:00

listen to the window
indicative
of the glassy speech
- through it, I may see you
walking towards the house
though a little distorted,
a little farther away.

on words

2005-06-17T06:19:00.001-06:00

vermilion were the roses
outside, under rain
they may be still;
the head of the pine tosses,
you and I,
asleep.

somnia

2005-06-17T06:19:00.000-06:00

dawn checks the morning rush
quick-reined; the grey whip
across the horizon's back.

Decision

2005-06-17T06:17:00.000-06:00

I may use this weblog - or I may not.

Interim is a long time.