POOLS 

Leucadia

Lemon trees dance in the breeze

A bloom of suns

Hanging from the cyan sky

Backyard summers

Bare feet on warm concrete

I watched over us

As we grew older

In that Pool at the end of the street

Remember

When the Monarchs migrated through

our world like a vision and their orange

and black wings sailed on the Santa Ana’s

You tried to catch them with a butterfly net

You were always so optimistic, even then. 

.

My squinting brown eyes 

Adore a complicated sky

Spilled jars of cotton balls 

                          on the cool blue floor

Wisps of delicate ice crystals 

                        stretched by holy hands

Gorgeous gargantuan vessels 

carrying charge 

                         and rarest of all

                                          rain

Silky serene guardian angels

Passing by every time I need escape

Whisking me to someplace lovelier

Than my mind’s landscape

.

The ocean infatuates everyone

With that break-your-heart blue

Breeze carrying the salty smell

Hypnotic chorus of crashing waves

Overtakes all chaos in space 

I’m alone with infinity

Swimming past the break

               I pray to the Water

      How can I ever be good enough

                   in a place like this?

The Water rocks me gently,

                                baptizing me over and over

San Jose

You thought the world was ending when I left

This was true but I was, as ever, strong for you

Concrete smothers this city

     Anywhere you can’t leave

                    Is a cage

Small Pools of solace

    Crimson rose bushes 

     A dirt path under the freeway

     Soft sun on a quiet afternoon

The streets were not safe

For anyone with a beating heart

Midnight men weaponed with shadows

And all the wrong people loved me

.

I hid in my room

And felt myself burn

Mostly I screamed

But even then

No one ever felt

The hot in my head

Hundreds of thoughts simmering for hours

Watching the city reach infinitely

                         into the blurred hazel horizon

.

I prayed to the Fire

      Will I ever escape?

She opened her blue heart,

Like an oracle

And shared with me

Visions of friendly foothills

She said

             Don’t you know what happens after a fire?

                                                                    Bloom.

Fort Collins

Necks arched like early humans

Seven wishes before breakfast

In this sacred silent space

Before most monsters blink awake

Stars steal my soul

Into a Pool so deep above

I drink it in and fill my lungs

Drown in the mercy of the beloved

Devote my breath to reaching up

Really reaching in

Fingers touch blood

Wake up and try again

Hopeful people love the morning

Dew dries at pink light

Sun washes away night

The horizon bursts open

Oh, the drama of becoming

.

When you visited me

Awed by all I was building

You fainted with relief

It was no place for you

But everything I could need

.

The Earth remembers everyone

From past lives

Celebrating our return

With fields of delicate Columbine

Assured by ponderosa pine

I’ll be held until the time

Under their guard I soften completely

    I ask 

Is it ok if I don’t know who to be?

The Earth’s chorus sings

You are known by a love beyond anything

Like how every weather

Is welcomed through these skies,

I howled with the Summer storms

Found Fall’s elegance in letting go

Winter’s wisdom humbled me slow

By Spring I woke up, gasping in the bloom

The Earth winked and asked me,

Isn’t this everything you’ve ever wanted? 

  To feel it all 

            And then burst through?