Posts for June 28, 2026 (page 9)

First Light

In the first light of morning,
The day’s music begins.
Bird song floats while Earth is warming.  

I turn to sneak a peek at my prince charming,
And wish for sounds of a hundred violins
In the first light of morning.  

Today will not be like yestermorning
When skies were dark and good news thin.
I’m hearing the bird song float while Earth is warming.  

I pour coffee, now many years habit-forming,
And wait while minutiae in my head takes a spin
In this first light of morning.  

I find a prayer for the day is forming
As each of my cats stretch out their limbs,
And bird song floats while Earth is warming.  

I am grateful to be here with a lust for learning;
Casting aside all might-have-beens
In the first light of morning
When bird song floats while Earth is warming.

Green sticks in hand,
the excited children wait.
As the fire pit is lit,
to enjoy a marshmallow stake.

anger does not suit me
sure, sure I am bothered
annoyed and most likely, yes, angry
but staying in such a state seems a waste
the world moves quickly, forcefully in fact
revolution in its purity is pristine
yet don’t most of us have an ulterior motive
an agenda
I, anyway, have found such to be the case
systems which exacerbate, difficult to dismantle
pitted against yet additional systems
reminding me why exhaustion and overwork brought me to the present
reality is often ugly until one digs deeper than many of us are willing
beauty lies in the origin
fields of dirt which yield, hard work which produces sustenance

I hope you’ve changed

Really truly changed

I hope you’re so far from the person you used to be

As far as you are from your hometown

I hope you listen when other people talk now

Instead of saying empty words

I hope that your new friends hold you accountable

I hope you grew to be better

And that you don’t get away with treating people like you used to

I hope you never have kids

And that your new girl is sweet

But I also hope you never forget me

I wish you a life full of what you deserve

And I hope you stay far, far away from me

Watching the floaters in both eyes
is like mapping stars      
     
        close an eye to   
        slice the lemon in half  

some in the left                  
                              some in the right

all are on the surface of a sphere  
a world conceived by perception
 

followed his mint craze just like a young Beethoven 
took up Mozart’s baton. Untended pink and purple
 chalices still polka-dot the stone wall they were meant 
to cloak. Striated blooms climb, wind with confidence— 
they neither reap nor sow—and with more gusto 
than my clouded mind can muster. Their wisdom 
for me: a moment beyond worries, a moment 
that wishes to root me even as winds whip my day. 

I step into my closet, 

Why do we call the one who hoards newspapers, crazy
But the one who hoards money, genius

Why do we laud those who give away a tiny percent of their hoard
But ignore those who share half their sandwich every day

Blinded by money, suckered by fame
While real people suffer in shame

Look at the faces of those you reject
The unhoused, the addicted, the ones you suspect  

Of being too human, of being a mess
You can only be more if you make them less

What if instead of being reviled
You did something crazy, something so wild

As to look at the faces of all human kind
And see shining back the light of the divine  

Friendships bloom when no one is watching 

I wish Emily Dickinson
had married Charles Dickens—
she could have been
Emily Dickinson-Dickens  

Perhaps they would have
had a son named Richard—
he could have been
Dick Dickinson-Dickens