Sangre y Tierra

Laying in a hammock at night

listening to the stillness of evening

in a rural Mexican town

Heat of day fading

Grandparents asleep

Aunts Uncles Cousins gone home

for the evening

Alone in the room where 

they slept and played as children

A light to keep the darkness at bay

Leonard Cohen singing in my ears

as he picks at his guitar

My life waiting for me at home

Yet this life here 

separate 

and necessary 

to my survival

to find a way forward 

by looking backwards

to where two lives met

and gave life to mine

Pressed

Faded rose

Dried

and pressed

into the pages

of a book

Dead

yet living 

in remains

and memory

Free Write 1/25/19

In this space we begin again and again There is no choice
but to begin over and over As many times as this life demands
We choose to go along or we resist and remain where we are
I found you sleeping beneathe the tree in your backyard You
asked my why I had let you sleep so long and all I could say
was you looked so peaceful and beautiful I left the city today
because there was nothing left for me The beach is never lonely
It has itself for company We are drawn to water so easily We
find ourselves by water as often as we can

Time is unrooted and now there is nothing holding it all together
I could have sworn today was next week but it isn't at all

winter morning touching my skin
the warm spot in the bed where you were
feet shuffling in the house
you are not far

Staring into the bay from the tree
at the edge of the cliff
the water laps the beach far below
Undulating waves
A mind I am seeking to empty
How many years remain
How much will be done
How much will be left unfinished

Snore

Wake up
I can hear you snoring
Honestly
I don't mind
Sorry I woke you up
Love you

Could we be
the messiahs we need
in our lives
Could this be
the love
we've been missing?

All this flesh
So much meat and bone
blood and sinew
the only place
solely our home

We must have hope
We must believe in our capacity to change

Children of Winter

Begin anew
Dawn has come
The Sun shining brightly
Birds flitting between branches
Chirps filling the air in the slight chill
Do you feel yourself ready
to begin again in good
faith that indeed we
can change we
can take hold
of the reins
once more