You never know how someone’s actions are going to influence others’ actions, what choices will be made as a result of previous choices, and where these choices will flow, perhaps in the direction of changing someone’s life. Or saving it. The Tattoo Artist Comes to Jesus When I was still brave and stupid, I hitched a…
From a Paleoclimatological Perspective, Maybe We’re Not So Bad
Our guilt over the damage we have done to the environment could be looked at another way. If you’re a paleoclimatologist or just a paleontologist, you might see humanity as just another in a long line of climate disruptors, beginning with the lowly algae. Our time on earth will be identified by a distinctive layer…
Learning to Break Things
This poem started out as a meditation on the things we break in life—relationships, hearts, promises, etc. But when I looked up what my childhood-imagined prison actually was before a hospital was built on the grounds, it changed the trajectory and became more of a commentary on the consequences of girls’ disruptive and delinquent behavior…
Karma or Coincidence
As Jimmy Dickens once wrote, “May the bird of paradise fly up your nose.” That could be good, or bad, depending on how you look at it. Thoughts on Alan’s Factory Outlet’s Annual Bird-Dropping Survey Alan’s—America’s #1 manufacturer of carports & garages—has announcedthat this year, brown, red, and black cars were the more likely targets…
When the World is Too Much With Us…
Sometimes life just seems too much. Too many demands, too many decisions. Sometimes you just want to shut the door, jump under the covers, and hide away. But then you hear the happy tune of the ice cream truck or a friend wants to come over to show you her new puppy and things start…
When Your Life Finds You
We all struggle to discover our purpose in life. Will we be a healer, a lawyer, an artist? Sometimes our purpose comes to us out of the blue. We see something or hear something and suddenly we think, this is what I want to do. Or sometimes, after a long time brewing and steeping, the…
Resurfacing
When a loved one dies there is no bottom to the pit you fall into, no glimmer of light in the darkness. You live in a cave of grief for a long, long time. But then something happens. Life comes to claim you. In very small ways at first—an invitation to dinner with friends, a…
Another Chance for Earth
If aliens discovered earth, how long would it take them to figure out the fastest way to improve the environment? On the other hand, if they breathe carbon dioxide, they might want to further cultivate our life form. Thoughts on the Eve of Extinction Aliens have invaded our planet according to Netflix and Hulu.Soon, there’ll be…
Fragile Cargo
Some dreams are deferred, some lost, and others given voice but then left to make it on their own without any help from the dreamer. Setting Out Our Banana Leaf Boats on the Night of the Loy Krathong Festival On the full moon of the 12th month we gatherxxxxat the river’s edge to launch our…
He Was Such a Nice Neighbor…
Like the serial killer living next door with whom we always had cordial conversations, we never really know the full content of a person. As intimately as we are connected with our bones, they tell only a partial story of who we are—our diet, our health, our genealogy. The rest of us is intangible, more…
Light at the Edge of Darkness
It’s a common trope—the cloud with a silver lining, the light at the end of the tunnel—nevertheless, it’s true. It may take perseverance to find it, but hope is always waiting. It never goes away. Church of the Broken Pieces So much to work through when a loved one dies—the dark forest of anger, guilt,…
The Truth Laid Bare
Sometimes it takes a massive event to reveal what is stable and true and what is unreliable and rotten. Sometimes, despite this evidence, we prefer to cling to the comfort of our original perceptions. Reckoning They lie across roads, roofs, electric wires, fences their massive carcasses pitiful as toppled statues, arms outstretchedto the pewter sky….
PONO POETRY 