The Mountain ~ Mount Baker, Washington State

I love this Mountain free like snow, disappears 
on the tips of your fingers white and cold, in the winter
inside your heart of stone
lungs expanding,
The Natives say it will blow apart
a long held understanding 
an ancient art
their prophecy
their legacy
they know, so
it will be done when we will be one
on earth as it is in heaven

ldn

Folds

His heart was not heavy before he wore her in between
folds pleated tight choking his soul where she lay hidden in.

His sight was not dim until he saw her wrapped around him,
and his heart was not broken until he heard her moan
and call his name again.

ldn

Wear me out

Wear me out

I've been this road a century long, no end in sight 
no right or wrong,

travelling naked through my trials I've nowhere left to rest a while,

nowhere left to shed my skin,

my brother twin

Wear me out then wear me in,
wear me out then wear me in
Seaming through the past I found,

uneven ground, and hand made barriers in my way
so turned around
T'was all the better for my soul

to travel forward, to get to know 
my brother twin, 
my high man low

Now wear me out then wear me in

I've nowhere left to shed my skin,

so wear me out then wear me in

ldn

Atom and Even

   

One cold winter's day in the Garden of Even, Atom lay alone, whole
not breathing
until Allah's gift was sent from Heaven's breath fleeing
from the darkness begging for light He came...bequeathing 
splitting  Atom's heart in the Garden of Even 
Clashing,
Flashing,  
connecting toward the multiplication of life
without reason
until two became one with the rising sun
beginning 
then ending again
in the cold winter's season.

ldn  

Linda   ~  (and that's the way the story goes.)

11/30

Yesterday

It was a beautiful day yesterday
when clouds became dragons,
elephants
It was hard to stay on the road that day
swerving
rubbernecking blue rimmed cocktails and roosters in the sky
with Nikon waiting patiently 
my willing passenger by my side 
(my lens)
Eagles three - overhead.
I stretched, crooked my neck, swerved again
Flashed back
to the first day, suspended
darks holes, men dressed in white
metal objects, blinding light
space flight gone bad
then home again at last
with soft tissue pressed
against my skin 
mine own, shed
"Go to where you've not gone before, she said,
the ride is yours."
I went 
saw rows and rows of red soldiers shiny bright, mud flats 
their floor,
her bed
then -
the door swung open and there she was
again
arms outstretched I felt her breast against my mouth, red
clouds flowed then formed my mouth
my first breath gone 
I wanted more
She closed the door, then flung it wide 
took her last breath, and died
She's inhaling clouds now 
she took the ride
with my lens by her side
her loyal passenger
.

ldn

Broken Teeth

Walking out of the market today

I was approached by a black boy with broken teeth.

“Excuse me, Ma’am,” he said sheepishly, do you have eighty cents?

Why do you need it? I asked.

"For food…for a sandwich, I'm hungry and need to eat.”

I noticed he was well dressed, wearing a leather jacket,
and new shoes on his feet. Of course I gave him a dollar and didn’t ask for change, would you?

I knew he was lying,

standing in the rain in pain

but deeper beneath in the boy well clothed
I saw a soul dressed up with broken teeth.

ldn

The Drain

It's not like you told me there would be a storm
that would blow my sun down the drain
and it's not like you told me anything at all 
as I lay under your bed at midnight waiting 
for you to come home again
like a lizard begging for more of something,
something cool like a breeze, not the freeze
that broke my heart in the end
on the day of the storm,
on the day you blew my sun 
away down the drain again.

ldn

The Red Road

The Lady of Madrona

She walks the red road often daily to the water

in soft skin from age thinning

on old feet without slippers

She climbs the Madrona tree,

tells stories on narrow limbs knotted red

where she bleeds from old feet 
without slippers walking

ldn

cold kiss

I took my own medicine, choked it down

like a cold kiss in December,

no cover could warm me and nobody warned me

where I lay
frozen in May,  like this

I don't know where to go now

from here,

somewhere far if my legs could move me,
somewhere close if my arms could soothe me

from the  sleeve where I wear you rolled up,

on clenched fist.

ldn

Day 2

Day 2 of National Poetry Month:  30 poems in 30 days - 
the challenge 

and the one I'm dealing with - a messed up shoulder,

feels like a bloody jack hammer, pounding.

It's not like I'm a complainer, far from it,

but something's gotta give

in.

And it won't be me...I don't cave, never have,

unless of course it comes to my kids.  I'm a sucker for my kids,

they can talk me in and out of anything.

They know me, they show me...by caring for me now,
now that I'm broken, now that I'm older.
I can't write a more. 

Damn this bloody shoulder.

ldn

The eleventh day

(For Oso)

Logs are floating on the sea [outside my kitchen window]
and I 'm not sure yet if these
made their way ~ from up the river 
and floated down for me
on the eleventh day from the first day, the earth gave way
and drove them to their knees,
the day the salmon cried,
when their eggs flowed red,
to their final bed, 
beneath the crimson sea.

ldn