Consider the Oregon Oak Vast and strong Upright yet yielding She rises Branches turning This way and that Finding her bearings Home to Lichen Bees Birds and squirrels A myriad of insects Her wisdom Encompasses more time Than any of us Observing her can match She strides the hillside Motionless and in motion The wind sings through her extremities Sending her tiny children and leaves Tumbling to earth in a cascade of life giving bounty Is her speechlessness confounding? Is her solid form a sign of inferiority? Or is she Like God itself Standing erect and watchful upon the land?

I know these features so well, I no longer see them. That permanant crease between my eyebrows; perhaps more a result of reaching to see, eyes squinting on the horizon… or not. no matter, never mind… they have been with me nearly since birth. the contorted face of someone peering into the visual world, awestruck working out just what it was, that was being seen Or those grooves around my mouth and eyes The ones that come to life in a smile Or seem dead in a frown Reminding me which way I can choose To go look be The lines don’t change only their direction Looking back at these…

Like Nature’s Mad Insurrectionists they continue to arrive Unchecked Outside of all reason in numbers Without apology or regret Of any kind They are in a world of their own by their own design Unstoppable as the tides or the rising of the moon They preside over their landscape unwilling to relent In any Form or fashion Assaulted by poisons and pestilence They adapt Grow stronger As if their mantra is “Whatever you do, I will endure.” A lesson perhaps, to the rich From the poor. An interesting graph might be The comparative values of The increase in world wide poverty The increase in processed foods The increase in healthcare…

Sweet garden spinning in the dreamer’s eye All her lands were hidden in the trees The universe was pleased and sent the dreamer back to sleep now we must awake take back take back your power every minute of every hour every breath you take every move you make every thing you do it’s all up to you there have been many young seekers turned back when faced with meager survival crushes dreams you must remember who you are take back take back your power learn to open like a flower every word you say every game you play every thing you do it’s all up to you sweet garden…

It is at once exhilerating and complex Takes time to readjust but not. Speaking the clarity of the intent and subtle awareness. So that another might by luck or instinct understand. And to do this in dialogue… Divine.

So  much algae bloom: strip of blue green singing to the sun. Winter winds blasting oceans into high mist against rocky coastlines. Still night air holding back time in some vast oasis of dark silent space. We are captured  in its presence. Then moving on again. So it is with life. breaths in and out So consistent they become rhythmic So invisible  as to be persistent. Pattern. Becomes Always now. We ride like blind champions. Never, often, even becoming aware of the presence. It comes and goes. Sometimes early, sometimes late depending on and compared to our perspective. Somehow we know still we come. We gather ourselves up And toss…

So many things within the context of day to day Hold us Whole Which, If suddenly eroded Through whatever cause Leave us breathless barely able to survive Thrown up upon these rocks uncertain of the tides And yet Even within this does Choice arise Always calling on us to decide We can ‘come up on life surprised’ in a quandary to know what to do or simply choose as best we can in any moment But to do that We must believe in our choice Choose, and believe Believe and choose either way We lean on our own behalf in a direction Or not Or doubt and doubt ourselves or…

Standing in the freezing Talking about cops – and bribes and how they can be taken or not From Senegal to Santa Clara The language changes only. If we were doing that here – where- All you needed to know how to ask Was how to let him pay your fine “for you” – (If you, of course, paid him not a bribe – but to pay the fine ‘for you’) and in their dollars a 20 will do… Not here, where civilization has taken root Bred its spawn The simple offense (victimless) will take a year (or 2) of your time of compliance with their game of justification of…