The slopes of Mt. Shasta soared distinctively above us. No one had let the mountain know that it was September, and long exclamation points of snow marked the only slopes in sight not crowded with pines. I was visiting aRead more…
Teaching of Absurdist Comedy
It’s Sunday morning in Oakland, about 9. As I left Derek’s apartment, he looked at my badly arranged overnight bag (and my computer bag and my day sling bag) and said, “that’s a lot of stuff”. I shrugged. I’m bigRead more…
Leaving Folsom, CA
The old town sits quietly quaint above the brick powerstation museum and the cold dark of the American River where it runs out of narrow canyons below the Folsom Lake Dam – and, surprisingly, below the part of the riverRead more…
Bounded
The breadth of one day bounded by water like in a spell. Sweet breath of anise in the almost-cool morning,dawn coming so early to wipe the spilled stars a startled buck jumping and kicking down the main road the granite bouldersRead more…
untraceable ferocity
Sky and sulphur, winter sun in May.If you return here again and think exactly the same thoughtsit will be new. If you memorize all the dances and take each step like an executive of motion, it would be freeing.Whatever youRead more…
Enough
Tomorrow is the shadow of glass towers. Breathe the way into morning, one lifting filling including earth fire, the robin throat sky, flesh-pale elm roots, the sheltering hills. Enough. Sell your ideas of yourself at bargain prices. Take up yourRead more…
Hopeful
I came to explore the wreckbut the ocean had gotten there firstsand dozers and bilge filling tendrils of the surf had been at the behest ofhigh-hat waves,seagulls worrying over something in thekelp I did not want to see.There were theRead more…
Remember this is the one
In the night when you pray in secret to be unmoved by the tides of suffering,when you mutter, “Lord, make my heart a stone” Remember. This is the one who invented babies teething, puberty,who gave us marriage so we wouldRead more…
Secret Documents
The Letter’s arrived and they’re asking you – come to serve as a secret agent? Everything has to seem the same Mornings and driving and buying things that no one needs, But when you’re in the store, You will beRead more…
rejoice
Take up the leavings of a life.Say “thank you” in a clear voice.Bow to the unseen face of the training place –garden, ocean, dojo, cathedral, street corner,overflowing gutters of disappointment.Take up the friendships, the San Andreas pressures,the fragile desires, theRead more…