Poetri

The rain cut the canvas of her face
As she stood a stranger to what I wanted her to be
I would have turned that knife into myself
To see the light of understanding in her eyes
But my exile had been too long
And perhaps the truths I had planted
Broke into nothing more than dreams
Whose blossoms shriveled
Even before they opened

The luggage of hope has become too heavy for me to carry
So I set it down, watching her
And though it is raining
I cannot cry
The hurt in me is too dry

They split the sun
And the core was a wound
A terrible magnet of souls

Without gravity, my mind fractured
Overwhelmed by the chaos of unknowing

I stood inside out
And ached all over
In places I could neither name nor find

I was nothing more than a combobulation of frantic thoughts
And desperate want

They split the sun
And my world became unknown to me

When I wake up in the morning
Whether the sun is bright or gray
I thank God, yes I do, yes I do
For gifting me another day
But when it ain’t no one but me around
I still miss my lady

My mind starts in on itself
Turning over why I’m alone
I know she got a life to live
But without her this ain’t no home
And I wonder since she been gone so long
Whether my baby love me at all

When I pick up the phone she don’t answer
Or else she can’t talk long
When I dial them ten strange digits
Every ring pains my soul
Some may say I want too much
But God say it ain’t good for man to be alone

I try to tell her the best I can
I needs to hear her voice
Most times it seem she don’t understand
That the love I need is a choice
If she can’t make no time for me
She must not want me on her porch

They say a lady chooses who she wants
And a man can only take
They say a lady chooses what she wants
And a man can only break
I’m startin to wonder if love is worth anything more
Than a cold heartache

When I wake up in the morning
Whether the sun is bright or gray
I thank God, yes I do, yes I do
But I hate feelin this way
If she call love what she don’t do
She might as well stay away

I said if love supposed to hurt this bad
I don’t need it anyway

a grainy smoke of snow
blows over roof tops
winter calls
while sifted angel powder falls
I’m in a crystal ball

I’m in a crystal ball
shaking
from a recent heart quake
from absent warmth
and troubled thoughts
and whether love’s at stake

blinded by this fog of pristine silt
which settles fast
and blankets me with hints of guilt
my anger melts
what’s cast

my anger melts what’s cast
and love is tested by my doubt
for love called love must wear a mask
that I can’t figure out

for I am used to fruit from trees
and not from packages
my water comes from fresh clear pools
and not bottles with labels
my hands get dirty from the soil
of plants I’ve harvested
so when greens wrapped in cellophane
are offered on my table
I hesitantly lift my fork
to eat what you call love

“If only we could have understood each other
we wouldn’t have had to fight.”
- Zatoichi

In the quiet
depth reveals itself to the listener

earth breathes
the soul is soothed

but in the flickering madness
of candled minds
thoughts wrestle within the stillness
the chore of patience
holding hearts like a vice

there are those who fear the dark
for the things they cannot see
a ghost perhaps
or some other imagined threat

but eyes adjust
in the light of the moon and stars
even the night can be clear
safe

so while you heap between us
barricades of ignorance
I lay siege to your better sense
sitting outside the light of your fire
waiting for your hunger

hoping you have acquired a taste for my love

- from the movie “Pocahontas” 

You think I’m an ignorant savage
And you’ve been so many places
I guess it must be so
But still I cannot see
If the savage one is me
Now can there be so much that you don’t know?
You don’t know …

You think you own whatever land you land on
The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name

You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You’ll learn things you never knew you never knew

Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned?
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest
Come taste the sunsweet berries of the Earth
Come roll in all the riches all around you
And for once, never wonder what they’re worth

The rainstorm and the river are my brothers
The heron and the otter are my friends
And we are all connected to each other
In a circle, in a hoop that never ends

How high will the sycamore grow?
If you cut it down, then you’ll never know
And you’ll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon

For whether we are white or copper skinned
We need to sing with all the voices of the mountains
We need to paint with all the colors of the wind

You can own the Earth and still
All you’ll own is Earth until
You can paint with all the colors of the wind

squeezing tonalities out of
deficating circumstances
broken guitar strings or
ruined horns

I screamed like a baby with wet diapers
whose had enough of being ignored
and can’t understand why big people are so…

would smack somebody if I was better coordinated
so I’m yellin
metallic echoes peeling against the drywall
until this empty room gets filled
NOW

with what love is supposed to be doing.