Currents
Dad, he woke before the dawn
he dresses in the dark and he’s gone.
The car engine moans, he drives in alone
to deepen pits in endless rows.
His boss says “My friend, in life there’s nothing free.
and no one can afford to be,
so put your aching hands to oiling their machine.”
The dutiful lost in their going
cry buzzsaw swarms engulf the slow ones.
Each will decide if in this life
promised deliverance will someday suffice
when every moment’s stained in sacrifice
as we ask ourselves “What do I sell this time?”
(the dismal doorways of despair still will oblige).
Fences carve property scars,
each line designed to keep apart
those cutting loose the shortage noose
hung to adorn their gilded ruins.
But until we all break free no one is free
and each glimpse convinces me…
We are the currents raging towards release
The luscious veil of daybreak to the east
The sprout proclaiming space through crumbling streets
The gentle-handed new day tendency
So come my sisters, brothers, sing with me
Come my brothers, sisters, sing with me.
Cultivation
Poor manners rearranged and praised
‘till wolf pack laws are deemed sane
imbalance pressed on mind frames
is not our true state
and will be burned away
‘till we have ground to cultivate
a human kindness as we bring
love into the world.
Nurture the constancy that knows
when weeding back your mad growth
you let roots feed what’s been sown,
so push past your tangles
and stand free and whole,
nourish a simple garden home
the boundless gifts each of us own
to be shared with the world.
Turn to the rich soil of your mind
in damp earth offerings we find
a cycle-strength that gifts life.
She leaves us humbled
and with the strength to fight
for ease of breath in living light
for every soul beneath the sky
to be healed down by the garden side.
Summer Golden
If you bear a heavy load,
an anxious tug that gnaws you down,
weave your path along dusty trails
that hum the golden season sound.
Warm, slow breezes cool the mind,
the healthy drip of sweat on skin.
Red clay banks all crowned in pine
invite a late-day river swim.
Lay you down in pools of jade,
and lingering day she will provide.
Gifts of boughs in breezy shade,
the hazy pulse of world alive.
Alive, this world’s alive,
this world beholds, she is alive.
Alive, this world’s alive,
this world provides, she is alive.
Reddust Refusal
Poison paths choke hope from frames of mind
as job-well-done-week’s-vacation
are the holy veils that cloak each wail.
While cold industry priests cry it’s of no concern
that you feel so done-in,
that the human is buried daily beneath this frantic din.
Do you see the wound we inflict upon ourselves,
lost in each profitable hell?
Blood for the golden horn, the duties borne,
the roar of their collapsing tower -
oh, how it devours
oh how it feeds us gospels of greed.
Hear the roar of their collapsing tower
oh how it devours
oh how it feeds us gospels of greed…
Of false paradise fever material dreams.
Wage slaves beg for scraps bought in life-debt decrees.
Their heads bow exalting slow-death deities,
who hiss schizophrenia and murder the seeds
of what could be.
But beneath pale thrones burns a refusal to go
as hive-mind maintainers of Capital’s row.
We all have inside the tools to overthrow
each technocrat savior hollowing the soul.
We won’t be sold on cowering, on miserably accepting
glorified survival when we deserve better
glorify survival but we will have better.
One drop in sight
of pure delight
of moon blue night
gives us strength to break through
the hustle of our reddust days.
My agency
nectar sweet
comes to me
as the whispering pine halls enthrall
as baby animals dance in pale spring jubilee… so will we!
Silhouette Spin
The cool vapor kiss of the night field’s mist is a friend I know
But her touch of cheek hides the paths I seek in a thick fog glow
While the rag sea bird beak a song that urges play with all
As their silhouettes spin with the oakleaf children’s earthward fall
I sing all night
In star gleam white
As I dance so young with the lush green clung to our fallen tree friends
their generous decay is a slow wave sway of returning bends.
The creek side stones sing in elder tones sunk in solar flare
and they dance with the trees as the trees hold me with a lover’s care
I sing all day
In sun beam’s play
One step, two step
hip starts the move
breathe in, breathe out
in to the blue
Ancient Love
Green river bend heals and holds us.
The rolling thunderhead horizons
gift us rooted lightning coinciding
with our ancient, burning love.
Co-being of souls is an ocean,
too bountiful to hold.
Light crowns the galaxies of heart home fullness found
In our radiant human love.
Step with me into each moment
Awakening pulse of worlds
Peace flows, lays a path of steady moss bed growth
I’ll love you all my life.
Strong spirit eyes,
warm woven shine
the curve of your hip against mine.
In this sacred place
we will build our lives.
Sing Out!
Sing out without knowing what or how
over peaks and woodland dells in buoyant swells.
Each voice, a sacred myth we’re living with
until every voice has its own bell to ring
shimmering through everything,
shimmering through!
Cascade
The worry wear of wage-mind chill and grind
can muddy down the usefulness this sacred fire I harbor.
So I will sweetly breathe, exhale, release.
so I can hold the promise of each living being close to me
until I see it manifest in word and deed:
each hold creation seed.
My winter rooms where comfort turned to greed
are opening their windows to a clean fruition breeze.
I will send forth clear cascading suns,
rejoice in charity of heart towards everyone
as now my child eyes see:
the more I love,
the more love comes to me.
My truer childhood self suffers the scorn
when I cling to each broken stone once slipped upon now mourned.
So I will turn back in and love myself.
Be it torrential healing rain
ecstatic living wealth!
Until that vast firmament glow
Is ours to reap and sow.
Dream, Children
Come in, children, from the cold…
and warm your hands upon the hearth that simmers sweet.
Each ember’s murmur sparks an age reborn in heat,
reclaimed heat.
Hush, my worried children, hush…
and you will hear a steady rhythm in the boughs
who sigh no better time for letting go than now,
than right now.
Rest, my weary children, rest…
your soul hangs ragged from the ceaseless grind of years,
lay back and let the fragrant pastures dry each tear
and please draw me near,
and I’ll be near you.
Dream, my sleeping children, dream…
and we’ll evoke infinite wonders from the flame
each spark resounds as moss awakening in rain.
Moss in rain is how our dreams came.
The acorn earthward
foretold the seed’s burst
oh, how she assures.
Wither Gone
My mind’s a blossomed grain
and I sway in fields of remembering
being held by sweet earth while a cool rain
soaks low, my wither’s gone.
The will to live is strong.
The clear and savage moon
speaks plainly to the tide’s rhythm inside of you
reflects through foggy mornings on the shallows who
give soul its steady shore.
Each being affirms wave roar.
All veins flow from source, sweet home
Her kind light shows
each blessed branching bone.
The meadow opens unto me
Old sky teach me to…
Set root in what you behold
Bear fruit as the blossoms unfold
You stand on a glowing threshold,
now walk paths of living
As my dawn light burns gold.
Old Bones
Our hearts sunk down to core of earth.
Souls arch past stars' celestial mirth.
With you,
so glad to be here, too.
Mama runs lush through babies' bloom,
weaves us, all children on her loom
Our minds
are fruit born of her light-spun vine.
Past our civilized daze
sumac spirals amaze.
Earth's old bones
no other home.
Young buds are fists held up to sun
slow shout, they silently become.
Each leaf
revolts against the death-path lean.
Frogs croak, fish dart in silver schools
insects leave old skins 'round the pools.
Step quiet
there are teachings hidden here in sight.
Past our civilized daze
sumac spirals amaze.
Earth's old bones
no other home.
She knocks softly upon your door
invites a step outside, inward.
Outside the earth turns wide
please leave the burning house behind.
Past Storms
Your eyes were fragile, so sad
regrets bathed your temples in dreams you once had.
You built a life, it seemed the right path to tread
but hollow howls echo down the halls you were led
(halls that so many were led).
Storms hold a tragic romance
but past turmoil's clouds waits wild starry expanse.
Dad, there is such a goodness in you
my voice rings 'cause you gave us heartsongs so true.
So come on, let your voice rise
your inner dimensions still yearn to surprise you
to show you the radiance inside!
Iceflows
Your eyes unlock me like the iceflows in the spring
in the silvered heath and meadow
the earth turns so slow
our bodies burn.
Your lips are canyons, turquoise river flows me free
towards Pacific roaring moon song
we've waited so long
so come on, let's dive in!
You awaken paths inside me,
roots intertwining
in the earthly tangle our light sublime
it climbs and climbs.
Your hips invite me to linger on in the cool pine shade
ruddy needles softly laying
bodies interplaying
like peaks touch the sky.
Your mind's a spring fed from the earth depth living stone
nourished by the hills a'rippling
your sediment song
gentles me home, gentles my soul
You awaken paths inside me,
roots intertwining
in the earthly tangle our light sublime
it climbs and climbs.
Trying To Find
Well, I’ve wandered through the night
Through an age of man, with a soldier’s hands.
But oh, my love, I’m coming back to your caverns deep
From my haunted sleep, from my haunted sleep.
Well now I’ve been trying to find my way back to your arms for a long time, for a long time.
Years now I’ve roamed, and always in my rambling I yearn for your tender touch kind, your touch kind.
I’ve been trying to find my way back to your arms for a long, long time.
Well I’ve wandered through the mists of ten thousand years,
Of tyrants and tears but now I’m reaching for your queenly touch.
I leave the rut of the road to where the sweet moss grows near a calm stream flow.
That’s where I’ll go, that’s where I’ll go.
Bramble
I’ll bust and bramble past all the beige lines,
where the mighty mandate and the meek slink and whine.
Never again will they have hold on me, no, no.
Cause I’ll be out rambling across flowing hills
Where the sweet smell of summer hay touches and thrills me
Breathe with me now, let’s taste the air…
Can you hear when she whispers,
“What will your true heart choose?
What will your true heart choose?”
Alone in the break room, you’re fluorescent frozen
To burdens so bleak, a path all that’s chosen
So come on now, come away with me.
And we’ll be out swimming through moon cricket nights
Where the humid embrace of our lovers excite us
They’re calling, they tender invite you and they ask you,
“What will your true heart choose?
What will your true heart choose?”
You polish your cages of duty and pride but
I see, too, a desperate light in your eyes.
So come on now, come away with me.
And we’ll cry to the moon ‘round a bonfire bright
We’ll dance with the shadows around it all night
There’s a chance, still. So let’s go and see, let’s see now,
What will your true heart choose?
What will your true heart choose?
What will you choose?
Wild Lands
Dust was drifting ‘round the wheels of her car
In the desert heat looking for mesquite
After bundling it up it wasn’t very far
Until new grass betrayed the spring for which we made.
Perched upon the lips of gladness, we arrived.
Upon that thorny branch we set a flame to dance
And on hot coals we fried tortillas when the fire died.
Our sacred evening toke in sweet spirals of smoke.
In turquoise water flashing fish were darting by
Dancing in between the shadow and the light
Cast by mighty trunk reflections of the great trees
Some of them a thousand years wise from what they’d seen.
We raised the tent and took a stroll
Along stream’s flow, we were barely clothed
And as the plenty of that place filled my soul
Her breeze whispered, “Love please remember what of mine
You must take home, please take it home.”
Listen to it in the heartbeat in your hand
Earthmind urges us to stand
And foment the re-entwining of our wild lands
Peaks afar, depths within.
Mist of ancients settles on a little town
Up in green mountain climbs nestled ‘midst the pines.
Every season scattered across the mossy forest ground
Arrives for weeks in flush a being who teaches us.
As we climbed the narrow streets still slick with morning rain
The nodding fronds of plants knew just why we came.
And so they led us to a woman with eyes deep and bright
Who sold us star children wrapped in a banana leaf tight.
The children opened up the gates to higher ground,
My mind split asunder, held in awe at the wonder.
And as the night rain drummed a rhythm on our roof of tin
The pulsing waterfalls of wisdom spoke to me, and me, I listened.
“Open your heart, take a stroll along earth’s flow.
It’s time you know that you are not separate from the elder soul
And her destruction it must be countered
So keep this sacred promise to her.”
Listen to it in the heartbeat in your hand
Earthmind urges us to stand
And foment the re-entwining of our wild lands
Peaks afar, depths within.
Child Inside
As through the years I've wandered
I was a compost coyote, nothing squandered
One day while turning over the pile
I saw myself, five years old, he made me smile, then he said,
"Upon your self-seas younger your nets brimmed with desire
let's recast and reconjure the child inside."
A cold business wind leaves us just skin and bone
Where did the human inside of us go? Where is our child roaming?
Honey, come back home, baby come on back home.
My child, what have they done to you?
Don't let their studied tones and schooling fool you
In the judge's chamber the good cop grins
bad cop has his trigger finger ready if you won't go in… but don't go in.
Cause there's a priest-class trespass in us, too
until we feel either guilty for not doing it
or guilty if we do… but that’s enough now.
The child jumped the fence at the end of the track
now he's laughing, running down the deer paths, he won't look back.
The child he stoops to wonder
moths flutter soundless in the jade-shade thunder
through the underbrush he's porpoise plunging
heart is an autumn orchard ripe with wanting...
To climb that silver ladder
and taste the grapes that hang there
bats in the lavender air
moon rising high.
The tree shadows reach towards wash of stars in the sky
river deltas of veins flowing wide
let's fly down the zip line
the shock and splash delight, that's where yr child resides.
A cold business wind tries to leave us just skin and bone
but I stopped listening a long time ago
cause now I see where my child's roaming
honey, we should go
baby, come on let's go out to meet him.
Jim The Company Man
Jim the company man, he never spoke too much
40 years at the mill, breathing in steel dust
Until his back was bent and his eyes were dim
And then his heart went out, and there went poor Jim.
The day Jim was born the sky was gun steel grey
His mama kissed his brow, his daddy knelt right down to pray
he said “Lord please keep this child in your care, may he never go astray”,
“I worked hard my whole damn life, and by the time he’s grown he’ll do the same.”
Jimmy went to school, he learned to be on time
He followed most the rules, a well-mannered mind.
On his graduation day the steel rep came dressed up in a suit and tie.
That June Jim punched his first card and found a place working on the steel line.
Jim would rise up sore in the predawn gloom
Think of his bills and his wife and kids
Sleeping right up there in their room.
But then he’d sigh and turn to go
just like he’d done a thousand times. Another long day spent,
Another piece of Jimmy dies.
You wage slave enough and you’ll finally see
Jim is everyone, he’s you and me.
So remember before you lease a gold tomorrow for the rest of your todays,
That Jim worked his whole damn life
and by the time he died, he still hadn’t paid.
Jim the company man, he never spoke too much
40 years at the mill, breathing in steel dust
Until his back was bent and his eyes were dim
And then his heart went out, and there went poor Jim.
El Coyote Canta
El coyote canta y no sabemos por qué
Si el mundo está muerto con tanto progreso humano
¿Por qué canta el coyote?
Que cante el coyote,
Que con su canto nos enseñe.
Llegó el granjero con su trampa y la armó
Porque oye y no sabe por qué canta el coyote.
Que cante el coyote,
Que con su canto nos enseñe.
Better World
There’s a better world a’coming
I’m not walking there, I’m running
All the pain in this whole world can’t hold it in,
Her beauty’s staggering.
There’s a better world a’coming
The capitalists think we’re done in
But this is the great awakening
We’re going to break through in the end.
There’s a better world a’coming
Where no policemen will be allowed in
Where in millions of communities we will gather around
To sing and dance like children.
We will take back our streets and buildings
The owners will shall dispossess them
And to each an equal share of the riches now
‘cause we have worked enough for them.
My friend, I know you’ve had a hard life
You work like a mule just to get by
This is the end of your tortuous twilight
Cause we are bound to see dawn’s light.
I know so many people who want to live free
Free is the way us the people will be
There’s dew on the grass by the side of the road
Morning is coming now, it’s time to go.
There’s a better world a’coming
The capitalists think we’re done in
But this is the great awakening
We’re going to break through in the end.