Friday, February 27, 2015

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




Monday, February 16, 2015

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

Monday, February 9, 2015

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.