Us All

everything came out even
I'm glad of that loose ends
can be annoying just when
you need your wits about you
the best Buddhist point of view
patience with crazed bureaucracy

indubitably it helps that people care
I'm not as self-sufficient as I appear
strong in spite of myself calm
in the face of headwinds gentle
with myself and hopefully others
aiming to be present to us all

Cosmic Hum

Coming back at night to the isolated house overlooking Arroyo Hondo, I stopped to listen to the silence. There was no sound, nothing to be heard, but I distinctly heard something beyond the sounds of my own body—a cosmic hum, very quiet, very large. Alfred said we were hearing the highway, just visible in the distance, headlights of one car, then another. I moved to put the house between us and the highway; there was nothing to the west, the sleeping valley, the Gorge of the Rio Grande. I still could hear the hum, the background sound of the universe in motion, coming from up in space.

Firing Squad

anticipatory dread may be what I meant
exploring impossible positions all ready
electively miserable for reasons enough
to be more helpful capable and willing
lift weight bend tend plants clean house
sounds trivial like facing a firing squad
for minor transgression never the point
days drift along nights drag time comes

Arctic Ice

desperate reach for meaningful which
counts more than a million minimum
for a reasonably comfortable dwelling

Arctic ice melting jetstream deranged
madmen in charge what kind of world
will it be when the babies come of age

Further Limits

now we know what else we like
knowing how to live to eat well

constantly thinking what to do
next discovering further limits

less can be said than how many
will be seen in older costumes

Just Us

after they're gone it's just us
sufficient if anything yearning
for completion tomorrow we'll
start thinking of the next time

can we imagine doing anything
with the house so full of action
eating talking what they always
do on vacation from busy lives

still the heart is at home happy
sharing being close think what
all is going on each distinctive
self becoming who is truly here

Regular Stuff

win win again everything approaching
as if ordinary time doing regular stuff

no moment more caught than others
no longer needing to be secret stolen

as if clean fear less bullies or police
look at me all you will all is revealed

if you want to know I'll tell you what
I learned in being what was required

Final Result

larger than smaller sliding into view
like not enough other self-defeating
patterns emerge without imagining

how you happen to live how things
turned out how one thing leads to
another this potentially final result

large like a universe among many
worlds whirling distant immediate
answers widen the planetary field

Out Loud

the secret ingredient is taste
not to be said out loud amid
din everything is delicious if
you say it is why ever not be
congenial appreciate others

all are giving their all as well
as meeting their own agenda
goals aims discoveries styles
harmonize if you let them be
themselves a gift unequalled

In Motion

we wait­
as travelers sit in rows
reading dozing
pacing the dark aisle
and the mighty engines roar

all are in motion
time raveling differently for each
according to expectations
where each one is
in the journey

all will be known
if not fully understood
even when everything is over
in the interim
we wait

The Other Side

I don't want to say what happened
doing it was enough without
going through it all again in words

not that it amounted to anything much
what had to be what I intended
chose planned paid for carried through

what I dreamed reviewed forgot
no matter the effort feelings
still the same from the other side

Good People

morning comes slowly then
a flood of light as if it never
had been dark and fearful
stories of a hard continent
with good people doing so
much we can barely sleep

political science numbers
tell the whole story when
you add them up it's rich
like dinner on tiny plates
how young parties afford
it never quite real to me

Larger Time

coyote visits reconnoiters goes on
stepping lightly past barbed wire
like me slipping away after lunch

not entirely giving up the previous
reality reasserting true dominion
I find in quiet solitary interlude

afternoon itself claims attention
happening all around and in me
we interpenetrate in larger time

None Other

I might be a younger
papa grampa enough
reason come to Taos

leaving age out of it
be plain timeless me
what would could I do

inevitably this none
other preceding after
what actually became

Odd Ache

what to do about arms
in the night bed certain
moves find an odd ache
shoulders crunch under
heavy pileup of feathers

intentional hands serve
nought in the darkness
on such stiff extensions
self-wrapping crumple
shoulders hurty bones

if only I could sleep on
my back instead rolling
no position lasting long
breathing questionable
mind spinning dreams

Best Known

dust to dust by way of mud
without complaint or wind
fatigue self-heated comfort
comes of family excursions
best known in photographs

kitchen mind meld grasped
in passing between activity
and play self-mocking real
competition for just fun of
beating people we're all for

One Breath

bees won't find these flowers
in the house they offer anthers
vainly beautiful for our pleasure

marvelous morning wakes up
eager for what a new day brings
readiness for travel being with

dreams accompany filligreed
harmony spun of atmosphere
extending one breath all over

What to Do

breathe
meditate
mantras
EFT (tapping)
be with
read
snuggle
wake

Face It

two more days and elsewhere
interrupting calm rhythm two
months of something different
arriving anticipated elective I
am doing it myself I always do

unmasked undistracted face it
good comes with struggle pain
resources ready deploy assist
trust required system deplore
all wrong after all come right

Wake Up

unkind years dismantle glamour
dignity expressed like espresso
grounds for heartsick complaint

good while it lasted was the best
we could only do wake up when
the dream runs down or never

Lost Time

if not the same then distinctly here
nor traveling identical highways to
familiar destinations ready to find

who knew whether you would next
discover links old-time passengers
luggage lost time before airlines if

I went away I would return I could
tell the story before it came around
scheming quietly in a cave of night

Warming Rays

horses in the house
alarms ring change
dismay rises earlier
breaking west wind

horses lying down
catch warming rays
grass seed scattered
expecting more rain

horse screams food
late as clocks early
departure wake up
the moment comes

Active Stillness

is morning better or night
here on the bumpy plateau
in between comes the day
things happen all the time
including active stillness
I am not one to sit around
alone or with others chat
instead have my routines
read write play my music
do inevitable little chores
think if I do as I go along
clearly learn what is good
for daylight good for dark

Old Wisdom

throngs in the street enthusiastic
searching express Italian gesture

history collides with subjectivity
old wisdom corrupted by things

communication breakdown over
loads random useless consolation

theatre of blossoming costumes
yearning to transform spring

Thought

wholeness precedes brokenness
but assembly precedes wholeness

Willing Bodies

random scattering undoes all order
fearful anarchy of cells their own life
heedless of my calculating desires

what I think weighs next to nothing
subjective gravity aside adjusted
balance barely adequate to survival

things don't quite fall apart until
all readiness exhausted trueness
reasserts immaterial dominion

sword fingers spotlight blockages
heart power gains the upper hand
willing bodies rise another morn

Five Dimensions

everything is here at my fingertips
automatic stories to taste or order
misinterpreted readings describe
what I could do without thought

the great throwaway clears mind
elegant passionate impeccable in
five dimensions guess the altered
surface before you judge its worth

This Time

granola sans coconut this time I
forgot but that's all I forgot this
time I really mean it to be good

All This

hardly deprived I eat everything
potage Parmentier my own slaw
Lent is long I miss cheese more
than chocolate or wine or spirits

how spoiled I am to have all this
deprive myself just to prove I can
edit habits demonstrate freedom
laugh at my own self-indulgences

Warm House

daffodils bloom in warm house
easy courtesy in crowded pool
library welcomes donated books
disconcerted by naptime dream
breakthrough in the scriptorium
transcendant tai chi experience
"sword fingers" energy healing
delicious leftover chicken curry
strange thinking Knut Hamsun
incomprehensible new Brahms
one amazing thing after another

Some Details

napping and messaging at the same time
that works if you want it to
no more trouble saying what I mean
I mean you me and the lamppost

dreams incorporate what I am reading
"The Garden of Lost and Found" by Dale Peck
New York as I remember it
Epictetus more fondly translated

John tells the story of every day
enumerator of businesses along the way
spring renews its promise
house clean aside from some details