FOLDED ECHO©

MINDFULNESS

an orb of gnats dances the evening sun

suspended mist

a freeway of twilight traffic

headlights blinking

herds felons towards the Christmas chair

grand Gothic cathedrals celebrating mass

willows in the breeze

ants surface through a rotted board

in our back yard

grand mother's lace

holes in my stocking

the whole of it defies reason, good taste, and the rules of writing

though the cadence remains

yes, it all seems funneled towards a grand conclusion

such a conspiracy

gondolier on a Venetian raft

floating towards the moon

pale, suffused light

Danube days

impressionist dreams

as it all recedes

for a moment there is no horizon

the moment of attention

JUST A LITTLE WALK

I am nothing if not mist

laughter unbounded

an escaped echo

whew!

transcendent stuff

say the meditators

our high school principal was

a pre-Beatles Neanderthal man

Ginsberg tromped him

Mingus said, Ah Um: Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

get your cameras out

Slaughter on Tenth Avenue: ah, World War Three!

nuclear weapons, asteroids: on cue

palms of Hawaii will drown

lava in gassho

founding fathers and mothers arrange lace on a Bauhaus table

work never ends

neither does breathing

until it does

DAYLIGHT

no matter what, there is always the next day

maybe a habit of thought

and today. maybe another

folding rice paper blinds

no investigation would be complete without forgetting them

the same question is here all the time

same simple answer:

what didn't go away

can't pin it down?

whatever it is isn't

yet right here

sit with this for awhile

enjoy the day

MYSTERY ISLAND

demarcations from this moment to the next

events are

so useful

and misleading

yet how else would intellect deal with what is beyond comprehension

we know this much

but not all

never all

how it nags

what could it be?

under close inspection it disappears

where does it go?

where did it come from?

silence

the sun rises

did it always?

take vitamins

why not?

mow your lawn

or hire me to do it

study the market

invest in education

all so necessary

for what?

the question nags, though it's uninterested

won't answer and doesn't care

why is it still there?

underneath the bank statement

what does the bank know?

PUMP HANDLE DAYS

OK then, the moon

bright tonight

robed in clouds

a fly on the venetian blind

now grooming its legs

might recall such handles

in its great, great grand generations

slowly rising, with trembling wings

so sensitive, these reminders of the gateway

goodbye concrete boundaries

laugh with me

I am your winter doves

on loan from a summer breeze

floating, iridescent humming birds

in their care free days