an inland sea

landlocked
I trace the rosy curve
of a conch,
sail by the stars
on my inland sea

~red lights 11:1, Jan. 2015 


ashes heaped 
in a walnut-shell boat
I sail
by the light of a candle
the caverns of the heart


~Moonbathing 11, Fall/Winter 2014

inlet

the shark’s tooth 
like a dragon’s tongue
filling my palm. . . 
bubbles of sea foam
on shifting sand 

~Atlas Poetica 18, July 2014

I am an inlet
of the only sea—
starfish 
lodge in the tide pool
of my being

~Moonbathing 10, spring/summer 2014

Lost Worlds

snowmelt

from mountain glaciers

blesses

Pachamama’s belly . . .

her rising fever chills me

breathless

at 13,000 feet

I blow softly

across two coca leaves . . . 

the ritual of wishes

twilight

in the Temple of Virgins

on Moon Island—

I leave an offering

of blood-red gladiolus

the Uru people

live on islands made of reeds

cut adrift

I reach for the shore

in this river of stars

~Atlas Poetica 18, July 2014

This tanka sequence grew out of a trip to Peru & Bolivia in October, 2013.