Boldface Titles in POEMS Section of the Web Site
C1
☼
ORISONS C 1990–1999
sundry listing and gathering of published and unpublished poetry— distillations, variori, fragments, massa confusa, et cetera
Boldface titles in POEMS section of the web site
1990
blessed be
One day at daybreak
1991
Valley of the sky
Deluge
Cave of the heart
Where the river meets thesea
Luna / Aurora
Process and reality
Nova
The remains
IS
Born of the sea/ Primavera
Total immersion
1992
A little borderline/ Borderline
The tone of heavenly bodies
The lead
Via Galactica
1993
Thaumatropes
Stróbos
A wake-up call
Soul moves
In broad daylight
Infinite Monday
Lying low
Long walk at Lobos / Joy before dying
The calling
Beyond reason
Gentle keeper
Crimsondusk
1994
Stolen fire
Dawn of surrender
Able to believe
Telepathic fantasies
It’s harder to die than you think
Sometimes I just want
A dark smoky saloon
How could this happen
You are already free
Secret serpent
How do you tell
How do you look/ How to look
These seamless fragrances
Zero disguise
Let these little poetic lies
These telepathic fantasies
Time is vanishing
There are moments to stand naked
Another morning
I am here not here
Sid died last night
Blurred vision not hearing
Apogee perigee
From birth to birth
Spacetiming
Dancing through the visible worlds
Rose of our own flesh
A waking prayer
No more time to lose
Precipices of light
THAT WHICH IS/NOT
Suddenly haikoo
dragon storms
Transparently/ Chalice
1995
IN PLANETARY ARRAY
01 INCANTATIONS
02 HUNGER AND DUST
03 BEYOND REASON
04 PAIR O DUCKS
05 PHANTOM TELEPATH
06 WE ARE SINGEING THE WALLS
07 PRIVATE PARTS
08 DISAPPEARANCES
09 IN SCARLET
Total body experience
Last temptation
Margins of error
Signals
Wind at our backs
Alchemical exercise
1996
Rain cloud
Nearing absolute zero
While the odds are with us
The discovery of honey
Origins
Sunset
Dreamtime
Normal
Dawn O PERVADER
Among the pillars
To the child
Solstice ∞
Lobos
John’s death
Improvisational souls
Lesions
Juz ta spose
C ra c ks
1997
Beyond reach/ Chamundeshwari
Punta de Los Lobos Mariños
In fullness/fresh hues
Majesty
Lobos lazuli
Dead and gone
Freezing over / Persephone redivivus
Erasure
A toe in the water
Adagio for a delusion
Hand to mouth
Flute dance
Saturday satori
When
Knoll
The delusion always
i
Some sense
1998
Second-story window
1999
Unframed
Ablaze
Humilitas
Humilitas
like the word
human
means
like humus
of the soil
standing low
grounded
from the Earth
nowadays it also invokes
the sober watchfulness
of a free informed electorate
it summons the fortitude to craft
undiluted bills and zoning laws
and enforceable treaties
it calls for scientists and engineers
whose best lights can bear
on sustainability and repair
humilitas would lead many
to try to turn a profit
with deeper responsibility
it means all of us urgently revising
our concept of waste
recycling now religiously
it may require putting our jobs
or homes or lifestyles
on the line
humilitas calls for restoring roots
for shaping and holding
the dreams of natural childhood
for singing and dancing
and showing and telling
the lore of our souls
all thus
and it is
more
* * *
This is the day
for all eyes to see
and all ears to hear
the warning
to get
the message
to recognize our place
from the outlook of deep space
to be still and know
the insane consequences
of nuclear
warfare
the immediate
prospects
of global famine
the ramifications
of pandemic
plague
* * *
Twenty-thousand-million years
they say to this
mortal turning point
of discerning the lessons
of one devastating
century of life on Earth
lessons about limits
we humans
can not exceed
population numbers alone
guarantee that we gathered here
our children and children's children
will witness dying such
as has never been seen
or else
we shall behold changes
on a planetary scale
no language can yet express
changes on a scale
our ancestors
could hardly have dreamed
ours is the choice:
consciousness
or catastrophe
which should bring us
enough humilitas
to return
to the soil of our birth
to the center of our souls'
communion with the family
of suffering humanity
and with all living creatures
who suffer innocently
* * *
This is the day
for listening
for the future
calling out to us
from that end which is
the beginning of things
to simplify our lives
to search out all cleansing
caring purposes
to align the image within us
to the likeness
of the mighty whirlwind
this is the acceptable day
to testify
to integrate
to venerate justice
for all
humankind
to love more kindly
the mountain lion the pelican
the otter the whale
to walk more attentively
below the morning star
under the spreading oaks
* * *
Alleluia
for whitecaps
on rolling swells
of lapis lazuli
for the rustling in the reeds
for the pine saplings'
emerald vitality
blessed be
the coast morning glory
yerba buena and
golden yarrow
the iceplant nourished
in the shell-rich mound
of an Ohlone midden
blessed be
the dragonflies'
whorling duet
in the silence
after the sermons
before
the healing
* * *
Astonishing possibility
in the marrow of all
chaos burns
when you really think about it
night and day are not
so simple
our star the sun
never rises
never falls
Gaia's breath
the tidal pulse
moonjelly's dance
sea-lion's bark
coyote's laugh
a little girl's heartbeat
speed along with this
perpetually spinning
celestial sphere
we could use
a new sense
of the infinite
the infinitely powerful
the infinitely alive
the infinitely sacred
the very suggestion of which
seems more than we can quite
willingly accept
* * *
Humilitas
like human
means
like humus
of the soil
grounded
of the Earth
the holy place is secret
because it is
so close
April 21, 1990
One day at daybreak
Whoever knows
whence or whither
it comes
a sudden glow
illuminates that
permanent wound
awakens
the child coiled
unmoving
from the muddy colors
of honest needs
to the fragrance of
cultivated soil
sea mist
unburied
dreams
* * *
Feeling you
feeling through
layers of sky
as they brighten
as we bring
forward
these imperfect
gifts
swallowing
one great
syllable
of love
in multifoliate
surrender
Advent 1990
Valley of the sky
On the high forest slope
a vast live oak between
two spreading branches holds
a thick pine in climax
pure light streams
* * *
In clear brown pools
mountains have fallen
into sand
migrant terns trill
conspicuously
bright in flight
we who have died
for love stagger down
sky blue hills
into the world
* * *
How suddenly
we have been bestowed
these new ways
of feeling through
strands of fear and heat
the marrow
of our souls
* * *
Must delve
must dive
come alive
accept that
a steady hand
can unfold
a great sweetness
* * *
Insatiable
child rejoice
awake
in solitude
we do give
and taste
Epiphany 1991
Deluge
Over the everlasting
body of the Pacific
the serpent tide
uncoils in iridescent
deluge flooding
this secluded cove
and resides
here still
quietly
aquamarine
* * *
Tongues resonate
with brine and woodmint
the light has changed
a solemnity of three
pelicans
cruise
* * *
Shadow clouds
of blackbirds swell
and break evenly
flash white and
turn back across
a thousand petaled
moon
* * *
Illuminated
in the waves
you bend to
quicken
* * *
Fingers diverge
like open wings
now leading
to the center
of deepest need
* * *
Where loving lives
living dances
your eyes
have lifted
* * *
the rest of your life
you are free
1.15.91
Cave of the heart
Now I know
why the harbor seals
watched
why the two
hawks whirled over
the wet woods
and dove through
the reeds
* * *
Now I know
why the waves rolled
out of cobalt blue
and leapt white
over black crags
in their crazy rush
for the changing
moon
* * *
And now to explain
the gray squalls
processing into the bay
mounting the peak
the sunrays penetrating
the golden interplaying
and spontaneously
doubling hues of
redyellowgreen
indigoviolet
* * *
As if I were the one to say
how perilous the path is
to this place concealed
and concealing all the rest
facing east
* * *
Or to portray
the light that gathers
above the smooth pebbles
shards of shell
as the body is raised
* * *
Precious little this is
of the new
sight then given
of the courage
to touch and be
touched
* * *
Of hands on drum
lips on flute
awakening whispering
something
of the diamonds
of the rain
of the egret
of the egret
Vernal Equinox 1991
Where the river meets the sea
Hell says no
possibilities
exist here
at the edge
of extinction
* * *
Thrust rippling forward
by gravity and all
laws of river motion
surging oceanbound
verdant and
golden brown
the freshwater spiral
is instantaneously
overflown
by the brilliantly
foaming fusing
tidal swell
converging super
imposing subverting
now emerging
rising in tunnels
translucent blue
plunging in thunder
purified
and released
aquamarine
seduced by
whirlwind and by
moon
on the axis
of all
throwing
all knowing
* * *
Three wild geese
trumpet northward
out of marsh grass
and bruised reeds
* * *
Should this
in fact be
our last day
damp angels affirm
that incorruptible
joy passing through
the body as light
sees self
* * *
Above the ruby slit
across the bay
drifting smoke
imbues the fog
with the warmblooded
flavors of the afternoon
frogs carry on
the blackbirds'
chants
from a twisting log
newly laid near
a tangled mound of kelp
flametips
penetrate
the dusk
and evening star
and all the blazing
points of heaven
* * *
The wet salt
of time
dissolved
glistens
on sculpted
granite
seasons
our cheeks
and
tongues
between Easter and Pentecost 1991
Luna
My continuing presence
on stage abruptly becomes
an open matter
Whether I would be able to raise
the horrors the assurances
another episode
a solitary syllable
* * *
Mysterium
tremendum
et fascinans
* * *
Blessed rest
without blame or shame
for my weakness
all energies injuries
flowing through my fingers
into the crowd and on
to the sea of night
* * *
The current silence
will be observed by a chorus
of crickets and frogs
dialogue might resume
after peacock screams
N-O-O-OW
N-o-o-ow
N-o-o-ow
* * *
In the mirror
over my shoulder
a triple brightness
shows a sudden
sure structure
to the hidden eye
spider belays
from shutter
down to windowsill
neighbor is up
catching light
in glass beads
sister has persuasively
patterned her new alphabet
for coming purposes
star-brother works
his grapewood
into crescent shapes
* * *
Stepping through
the arches of the east
she returns
brine scented
draped in April
and wild lilac
with warblers and vireos
with woodpeckers drumming
she speaks
* * *
Love at any cost
You are free
to explore
Make yourself a little something
for breakfast
* * *
The audience has drifted
back to sleep or disappeared
with the animal voices
something out of place
the purple costume perhaps
the eggshell mask
the jewel in the Ethiop's ear
her elliptical
glances
Process and reality
on first reading Alfred North Whitehead
Experimenting
illimitably
flexing extending
born craving
that rubbing
feeling
persuaded in depth
by immediate
presentations
of life in each
immersion and
ritual act
plunging forward
playing back
aesthetic claims
no sound and no soul
perishing until
it seems suddenly
personal identity
whole societies
begin to careen
into the whirlpool
of a passing
eon
Not to worry
Uselessly
no contradiction
in this our only
planetary
process and reality
of intermingling
enjoyment
and catastrophe
coming to our senses
we either choose
to take time to
believe in love
making all things new
or not to
Novaa cry in the wilderness
Luna in the east glisters
off rivers lakes ponds pools railroad tracks
in a mercurial mosaic
alone in the high desert
John sifts the fine dust of the world scene
out of a satellite dish
* * *
Shriveled Iraqi infants
the airborne lenses zoom in
spinning bloated Bengali bodies
O Blessed Mother
signals beam from Vilnius Lhasa
Capetown PalestineEl Salvador
RioChernobylAntarctica
Have mercy on us
link up two young Chicago brothers
voicing bitter hopes for survival
space shots probe Earth's failing atmosphere
Christ have mercy
prayers bold political pronouncements
from Atlanta's pulpit strap the globe
amen with an 800 number
Lord have mercy
the late news team in Sacramento
has uncovered a grocery basket
jettisoned under an exit ramp
Only say the word
stuffed with Jesus's stained overcoat
a scrap of script reads something about
. . . the last fifty years of humanity . . .
And the Day has come
* * *
Should show now some close-ups of our own
disfigurements devouring dragons
psychic inheritances you know
expose a face long despised perhaps
an unhealed bereavement haunting fears
of sudden death slow death certain death
or maybe just the chronic fatigue
of observing some integrity
in the adventures of soul
* * *
All along the spark is near
buried under feet of clay
bright in the heart of matter
after all remembering
polarities attractors
beyond our apprehending
if primordial yearnings
are matched and ignited by
ultimate consequences
if we accept all these present facts
in the vessel of total collapse
heat will flow out of the emptiness
the universe will expand
with accelerating joy
with intimate radiance
* * *
within the terraced garden
of an honest try
together we bow
to admire
the lurid
Rose
* * *
Giver will give decisions to us
in paralysis in ecstasy
in this Milky Way we live and wail
on the spiral edge of history
blood and water to all quadrants flung
still time to spin around take the plunge
this could be the birthday of the next
cataclysmic illumination
sign with the local poetry scheme
for mythologic transmutation
be a ritual priest of the true
HurlingChurch of the Periphery
join the Whirlwind Choir of the Forest
scold with ravens trill with honeybees
* * *
Folks hold your cymbals
remain seated
please stay tuned . . .
Do nothing
Feast of the Assumption 1991
Born of the sea
Ledges in thick masses hung
at tideline uphold
in suspense of fickle rain
dead seeds in dry sand
* * *
Night is soil
in the garden
of the dawn
* * *
Could some permanent
delight transparent
wisdom allow us
experience
* * *
This tender love's strange luster
the angels disseminate
and within all fallen facts
disclose somehow luminous
the substance of
our mission
* * *
Loving you through
all hells breaking loose
loving you into
the nocturnal graces
of the lunar seas
* * *
With fathomless
eloquence
your rising
from the foam
rose-apple lips
unto sky
your moon blood
welcoming
signaling
a perfect entry
* * *
So would I touch that
celestial body
taste and say
again
the salt
is sweet
Total immersion
Beseethinkfeel justlikethem
killing yourself cunning through
the haunts of their memories
dreams ulterior motives
crossing imperiled thresholds
to sense the pleasures of their madness
scorchingout the underwraps
of the bigpictureculture
the face facing the faces
voicing values snapvanished
from walls of polished mirrors
reverberating catastrophes
fearforces unknowably
meandering in chaos
where truth swirls spontaneous
subjected predications
vaporous over the furnace
molten out of all digesting depths
unlearned words of soul
have burned into
12.91
A little borderline
matins for eon’s end in three voices
Regína decór Nigredi ora pro nobis
And listing suddenly through the pylons
of the east appears the barge of dawn
below the visible surface
ash laden from the punctured Phillippines
bearing oilbeads from above mass desert graves
loops of Herzegovinian beanpot steam
with tinctures of Somalian goatskins
a ray has been extracted from the solar wind
the substance of this weary fog
snagged in tall eucalyptus drips
over my old mermaid roses
and sifts through the climate controls
with the first strains of today’s news
without judgement or desire
something’s recollecting in the depths
the child who was dead is not dead but
phoned me up just as the pink moon set
so much unsaid yet
one more moment let
the nightpassions coil
between your toes
that’s the way you listen
in transparent bioluminescence
meandering through the crevices
the fine thoracic passages
help is on the way
into the cranial abyss
and most intimately elusive
state of non-gravity
REV UP THE OLD CYCLORAMATRON
GET READY TO REMEMBER
AND FORESEE YOURSELF
Clairvoyant of the consumer class
a little edgy channel grazing
shards of self-disgust penetrating
floating windows wedging together
forming some kind of diagnosis
progenitors propagating prowess
KEEP WHAT YOU’VE GOT OR WHIRL AGAIN
sapiens savant perhaps
another quick cup of coffee
and I’ll be out the door
flying east into the marketplace
PRESS ANOTHER BUTTON
the quantum mechanic I should be
significans / significatum
doing my fatherly best to apply
a little psycho topography
to the family’s shopping routine