Contrary

Swing between steps
inside and around
gently provoke a reaction

a touch or a glance
leading into a direction

pressed up against
the careful meeting
everything measured and
internalized

the heat rising against
a cold surface
making ripples electric and
hypnotized

the elegant rumor
spread savory
across a flame

a diminutive presence
wrapped up in chivalry
the hearth, contrary intuition

Ice Palace on black

Adrift

I sat in a dank and crowded room
with a man of wisdom and words
who drew parallels between

the searching and the saved
a delicate conversation
over cups of coffee and

tips left in clinking change

he took his pen and with
the same stroke
created a circle atop a circle

atop a circle

with each rotation
I somehow some way
saw some thing

varied

as he narrated a world
and history belonging to him
and also to no one

a separate sea
coming together to save them

there was no difference between time
and energy
the lines ran their course

linking between motion

a living body of text
that would guide a people
for years spanning
a thousand and more

sacred paper
dictating a prologue
to the birth of humanity

adrift on seeds floating
through the sky and
scattered throughout
the fields

the ceaseless crops
of newborn hope

the book of transitions

Patched

The leaves are falling slowly
like a million kites in the sky

against the sidewalk
and the puddles
soaking up the last

of the season
the debris and dirt

it's back to number
crunching

to calendars and no light

but we're looking
continuously

for a burst in the pipe
an overflow
of ideas

to warm us on winter nights

making sure to mind
our idleness

with busy hands
and heads computing
the next big thing

I'm sitting
trying to remember
how to make
the tattered pieces
into a spirit enlightened

by time

pushing pulling
until everything is patched over

526

Threshold.

I'm sitting at the edge of a rock
spinning

and watching as the threshold opens
into a meandering wave of
polarity

searching for a manner
in which to guide
the needle north

as it tumbles out of control
spinning

fixate now on familiarity
in this unfamiliar terrain

slide against the grains
that oppose you
digging further deeper downward

banging our heads together for
a mighty solution
that will alleviate
all these worries
cascading

a thin sliver
is all that separates
us

my fists are closed and ready
my feet firmly on the ground
waiting to pounce

a victory in sight
and defeat in the rear view
spinning

determined to break through

Splash