• BENEATH THE WAVES

    She says she has always wantedto swim like a dolphin, and she laughswhen others tell her that she can,in the Florida Keys and in Hawaii. She tells them that anyone, at leastanyone with money can swimwith the dolphins, but she wantsto swim like a dolphin as well. She wants to see the sky appearthrough the…


  • FLIGHT

    Feathers openedfingers extendedwings unfurledarms outstretchedhead poised skyward, thenhead poised skyward lifting up into a sun filled skydreaming of impossible flight.


  • ARIZONA IS A STATE OF MIND

    Looking out the window, Iam reasonably certain this isnot Arizona and it is not justthe palm trees that suggest it. Well, in part it is the palm trees,although they have some there,but here it is the variety of palmsand the limited number of lizards. We have the occasional gecko,and the iguanas have begunto arrive, though…


  • A TWISTED ROAD

    Walking down the helicalroad, untwisting as you goyou discover placesyou never imagingedvisiting, nothinglike the path youthought you knew well. Stop and claimyour new heritage,find yourselfon an alien map,bury yourself in booksof new and ancient history. Pause here and considera King of Scotland,knights and lords,in the far distanceknow that you claima link to a manso honored…


  • HEAVEN, UTAH

    We would sit around the small parkas evening made a hasty retreatto somewhere, anywhere more livelythan Salt Lake City in the heart of summer. We’d pass a jug of whatever wascheapest at the state package store,usuall Gallo this or that, and roll jointswhich made their way around our circle. The cops would drive by every…


  • WALLS

    Someoneonce suggestedthat if you builda ten foot wallsomeone will bringan eleven foot ladder. I have alwayswanted to taketo the sky freelyand not in somemetal sarcophagus,to be a birdwithout limitationsbut all I have is an eightfoot ladderand I amstill afraidof heights.


  • IBIS SEEING YOU

    They pausein their foraging in the lawnto peer up at us,strange looking interlopers,but they are used to us by nowand return to the task at hand. We no longer find them strangethough we never quiteget used to the curvedsalmon colored beaks,and we do wonderwhy the ancient Egyptians held them sacred. It seems that theyhave never forgiventheir Egyptian ancestorsfrom affixingtheir head to…


  • SEKISO’S SINGLE HAIR

    A thousand steps,one hundred thousand morealong the pathand the goalseems ever farther away. Stopand restin perfect stillness.You are there, it has walked with you. A reflection on Case 86 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)


  • IN CHORUS

    Deep in a small forest,a murmuring brook reflectsthe shards of sun slidingthrough the crown of pines,its whispered wisdominfinitely more clearthan the babbling of menholding the reins firmlyin distant cities of power. The birds know this well,sing of it in chorus, nature’smusic, jazz scatting thatthe graying clouds absorb,an always willing audience,and the wind rushing bycries through…


  • ISN’T IT A PITY

    birdsdo not knowor acceptboundaries demandfreedom to fly whereand when they will they acknowledgehereand therelook downon peoplesadly, knowinggravity is our prison and we draw linesto keepothers outourselves inour space private birds haveinfinite spaceand freedomand pityfor us