Pinecones in the Grass

We live among giants

Standing tall
heads up
between the clouds
giants on the land
walk among us

Poets, far-sighted
taking in experience
and alchemically
somewhat later
turning it into golden phrases
platinum syntax, glittering
diamonds of phrase and feeling

Dancers, shopping in the aisles
but full with grace, rhythm
powerful movement
ready at any time
to explode, into canon
and tour jeté
(stand back)

and everywhere, mothers
carrying expansive hearts
capable of enormous
sacrifice, compassion
unending dedication
mountainous reservoirs
of love, flowing forever
to fill their growing child

And somewhere, an artist
quietly daubing, color on color
a silent symphony
in the making
God herself, flowing
from a deep heart
into physical manifestation:
an epiphany.

We may not always see them,
so big, so grand,
but they are part of all
that lifts, and exalts
this life, this planet.

To start with, hello
But lets not, for now
Talk names and places

Starts and stops
Where and why this
Or that happened.

Lets just be here, together
Im sitting quietly
Maybe you are too

Can you find a space
Between thoughts?

Maybe, in that space
you and I
Are not so different

maybe our differences
Are not what make us
Interesting

But all of the times between
Specifics, when we were
And still are
one.

Its wednesday night
And Risë
Is talking to her brother.
I’m on the patio
With dinner.

The eight foot high corn
Creates as if a rural estate
On three sides,
And a neglected road
Is occasionally travelled
To the West.

The air, a bit muggy,
But it’s good -
Sneezing into
Farmer hankies
Has kept me in all day.

First, a single butterfly
Travelled by the bird feeder.
Then a bunny came out,
Stage right
One eye alert
While nibbling, nose down,
For the feline lord
Of the acreage.

Twenty feet away,
A single deer comes onstage
And then stands
Intently watching
The diner,

And then walks away
unconcerned and is now
Making ripping sounds
As he eats corn leaves
Behind a lilac bush.

And here he is,
Teddy, on cue
Wondering if
Anything that I’m eating
Could be sniffed and shared.

Today we shopped
At three stores
Only 30 miles
From Canada
We had the scent
Of a pink sweet pea
While visiting Margaret
But the highlight
Was the gift
From a six year old
Ballet dancer
Granddaughter
Of a hand-picked
Strawberry

The lovely shiva moon
Shaped like a lit smile
Was stuck in black
Winter branches
In our yard
This morning

Fortunately, even though
The light open smile
Was touched by
The delicate
Dark fingers of
Our maple tree

It wasn’t stopped
At all, all moved on
Freeing the world
From a thousand
Mile per hour
Instant stop
Mile high tsunamis
Sweeping eastward
And many other
Deeply concerning
Events

At this point
I just want to be
In love

At this point
When I see someone
Who is black, female
Undocumented, gay
Transgendered
Gender neutral
Democratic or
Republic oriented
Farmer or super wealthy
Iowa Hawkeye or Cyclone
Russian or Ukrainian
Muslim, Hindu or Christian
Atheist or not
Lost or found

I just want to be
In love
Radiating love

I want everyone to prosper
Be safe, find growth, achieve
Freedom and enlightenment

Im not idealistic, so much

Just reminding all
Of where I want to be
Where I thought we might have been, by now

And where we can be
If and when we want it
And believe it, together

Just us
In Being,
In the Love,
Together

-p

Steps, spent lavishly
In playground games
Skipping down the hall
Between classes
In scattered hundreds
Jogging, cross country runs
Tennis matches, sprinting
Down the block, or just
A leisurely walk
Through the park

Now, seventy plus,
Walking the steps
To the mailbox and back
Friends, parents and
Several siblings gone
Steps no longer
Seem infinite
And spending them
One by one
Is more deliberate
Noticed, and
Appreciated.

I see you there, walking alone
I acknowledge you, I wave
Maybe you wonder
Who is that

But still, on your way
To the store for a snack
Or to work
You are seen
You are not alone

Lets consider
The miracle of you
Billions of capillaries
A hundred thousand
miles of nerves
A heart, patiently beating
The soft intake and outflow of breath
The swing of one leg
And then the next
In your walk
Never falling

You the older version
Of some mothers
Birth of hope

You are not alone
I see you
I acknowledge you
I wave

Yes it has been said
But it is still true
Love is in the air

And here you are
Walking through it
Breathing it
Let it fill you
Let it hold you

In fact, you are the love
You have love
Maybe deep inside,
But if you sit, and look
In quiet, and wait a while,
You will find a single candle
And the light of that candle
You can let it grow, bigger
Start to fill you, heal you
Make your inner world over
In the full daylight
Of love

And then when your inner light meets the love in the air
Right there
At the junction point
Of your skin

You are not alone
You are all one

And I see you
I acknowledge the
Big, beautiful, miraculous
Love that is you
And I wave.

yesterday,
looking closely
at the Southwest walnut
there were tiny
leaves of lichen
in a grey green
set among, and over
bright green tree moss
coloring the rough bark

and then today
I sat alone, with soup
at the wooden table
and there was ketchup
from a company
that has been making it
from red ripe tomatoes
for 143 years.

On my windowsill
looking out over a prairie reserve
of long grasses and yellow flowers,
there is a photograph of my mother
with her smiling infant child,
my brother Arden, both of them
now gone.

If she were here she would see
her young and beautiful face,
her hair, styled for 1942,
and her right arm would have memory
of that little boy, held close.

Then, looking out of the window
with me, she would see
the birds on telephone wires
and ask “Can you make sure
to fill the bird feeder
all Winter?”