Hood Canal at the Bridge

It wasn’t a secret that you could go beneath it.
We descended stairs and found
men with green buckets, poles jutting
over the railings,
lines hanging all the way down
to the North chop,
or the South calm.
My friend asked what they had caught,
or expected to catch.

In our concrete and metal shelter,
salt wind grazed our cheeks
only to smooth over the canal side.
Expansive glad shades of gray
prepared for military subs.
The bridge center could
slide back anytime
to frustrate a highwayfull
of drivers
itching for peninsular retreats.

Does stillness ever seep backwards
to quiet its source?

Turning around towards the open Sound,
we found a tumult of tiny bursts,
small, frantic, painted strips
(magenta, purple, blue)
reaching upwards out of the depths.
Water ladies called us,
dive in.
We stood close, desiring their lush hues,
bewildered.

We waited there as the oblivious sun
prepared to finish
its glacier-bound course.
We easily forgot
how both sides held the same water.

revised 12/28/08

My mantra has no words that stay

Seeing Mother Meera today was refreshing... I have a hard time writing a description without feeling cliched. Let's just say she has a joyful, playful, delightful look in her eyes... she is purity, goodness. I came home and wrote this poem.

My mantra has no words that stay,
they float away.
Knock on letters, grammar, vowels,
you’ll hear a sound - wispy hollow -
through which spry meaning runs.

Beyond rough language launch the thread,
gather it down fine instead
from the Divine,
yours or mine,
several visages or one.

Holy messengers inspire
as long as we desire
many names and none.

Encounter at Daybreak

Amid early morning dreams
your form comes before me
unknowably thin beneath the hooded
black robe.

You have a face that is lined and pure.

Absent of expected fierce expression
or sickle, you have tired eyes
faded down to watery grey
oceans deep.

You hesitate to take my arm.

Dawn appears warm and vague
with its white complacent cotton sheets
and cocooning husband, angel daughter
still asleep.

You wander back to the Unseen.
And I resolve to buy a juicer.