found my watch today, after several days
missing, time taken with it, leaving me
well, me left behind, timeless
and free, you’d think
but for that empty wrist, bothered
to raising itself toward my eyes
time and again chasing time
simply no longer there, simply lost
so i’ll have to admit, it feels good
to have it back, them back, or
to be back with them
for as limited as time may be
it feels good to be taken in
again, to be here
to be, now
to be me
**
bitter-sweet, the tang of knowing dust
left where it lies, better to see
where we’ve been
latent flavors rekindling taste
**
kubose sensei
when years ago we met in the temple
in chicago, close to elevated tracks
arrived late, a portrait of his teacher
hanging on the hondo wall
he spoke of the movements of his
even then long life
each preceded by someone asking
he was fortunate
he said
**
life itself, the big screen, asks
all the right questions, like them or not
leaves open options for advisement for
the questions that follow—answers
are not so much touch-stones
to stem the flow, as buoyed branches
passing to show the flow
will hold you
**
“if you don’t speak up, we can’t hear you”
jim james, singer, song-writer
**
tuesday the 26th of the month
of september, darkened mornings
quickening sunsets
a book somewhere closes
as words’ pours to the page
loosen their hold
and
**
less than a week back, in groves
of bristlecone pine, high-desert trunks
multiple millions of years of bulked
and twisted rings
as quiet, as unobtrusive as
evening’s snow-dust fall
to bare face skin
and graveled ground
all alike, never to be repeated
ever again
**
to return to doctrine too long after
the fact
is like tracking back
once favored boots now too tight
for the longer haul
open sky calls for differing resource
yet seminal music
melodies pathways
familiar, nighttime
or day
**
the sun slips below the ridge
leaving adrift the chill held secret
on drafts held still
before the fire-faced gift
known to us only in shadow
gratitude
lingered among the thoughts
of years of varied teachers
the heart
pressing thorough through
with trust
