wings

music lesson—
the caged bird 
beating inside me
learns how to sing
her own sky into being

~Ribbons 10:3, Fall 2014

I wait
without wings
in the empty chapel . . .
organ music lifts me
by the marrow of my bones

~A Hundred Gourds 4:1, Dec. 2014

signposts

knees to chin
on a bike too small
I pedal
toward crossroads
shrouded in mist


~Bamboo Hut 1: 2, Jan. 2014

signposts
pointing this way, that way
toward Unity
and Union Grove . . .
seeds scatter in the wind


~Bright Stars 6, Fall 2014

fingerprints

the four arms 
of the Milky Way
spiraling around us
the four hands of Shiva
fingerprint the stars


~All the Shells: Tanka Society of America 
Members' Anthology 2014

I need a name
for the wainwright of stars
who unfurls 
each fiddlehead to fern . . .
worthless, this cloistered tongue

~cattails Jan. 2015

shapeshifting

the gray fox
slipping like mist
through a shimmer
of moonlight 
my shadow

~Bright Stars 6, Fall 2014

shapeshifting
through deep time. . .
inside the wing of a bat
the bones of my hand 
take flight

~Bright Stars 6, Fall 2014

A Wayfarer

leaves drift 
across my path 
this autumn 
I lose the end 
of Ariadne’s thread

naked
under my cloak of dreams
I journey
toward a glass mountain. . . 
a sparrow hops in the dust

listening
for the heartbeat
of mystery—
a dry leaf crinkles
in the hollow of my hand

a map 
etched in frost
on a sycamore leaf
at the toe of my boot
. . .  you are here

snowflakes
on the tip 
of my tongue
the myriad names 
of god



~Bright Stars 6: An Organic Tanka Anthology, Autumn 2014