Our House

In front of the door 

sits a large grey cat with topaz eyes.

It has no intentions of moving.

Behind the cat 

stands a small white house
with a door the color of jade

guarded by the large grey cat.

In front of the house 

grows a tall tree. 

At its feet 

lay the amber leaves of Fall.

Inside the house 

before the smoldering hearth 

with ruby coals

sleeps a brindle dog with eyes of onyx.

Beside the dog 

a spinning wheel rests

wound with flaxen thread
twisted in vermeil.

Behind the house 

the sun sets in a sapphire sky 

streaked in turquoise, copper, 

and an unearthly rose.

Beneath the window 

before the sky

sits a bed piled with pillows 

covered in dreams

topped by the large grey cat

with topaz eyes.

Outside the window

in a garden of peridot green

grow potatoes, pearls of the earth.

In this garden perches the lapis jay

watched by those topaz eyes.

Beyond all this

upon the sea

flows a shimmering path of gold.

....

Elephant Dung Paper

This is an ink drawing on elephant dung paper of Libbs and her three chickens and me making rosewater. I love drawing with ink and old bendy nibs on elephant dung paper. It is impossible to assume control and each hand made sheet is so individual and subtly beautiful it feels almost superfluous to draw on even though it asks to be touched.  Most of all - it makes me laugh at the silliness of taking one's small self oh so seriously whilst next to the noble elephant and its dung. Far too much seriousness lately. As quick as can do and without thinking...

crazy legs

wispy arms

caverns are always dark

turtle eggs

frost that harms

icicles stick up and bark

soups hot

butter's cold

lettuce wilted 

now I'm old

surprise surprise

it's a party day

tomorrow will also go away

creatures get comfort

the sky is bold

i am blue when i am cold

resurgence is dignified

lying sucks

i am broke without any bucks

lottie is fat

jack is mean

percy's a poet

a bean can be green

this is silly

no it's not

what is silly

is to sit and rot

the world is crazy

maybe it's alway been

when the way of the world

is the way of men

if you go to the store

with an unkept look

the clerks will follow you

like you are a crook

if you have no money

and struggle to pay

you will forget to look

at the sky each day

if you don't laugh

and forget to play

a miserable life

will come your way

when will you laugh

at the people who snoop

in other's business

because theirs is poop

if you obsess over

liars and cheats

you'll end up bitter

they'll get all the sweets

meditate on the divine

burn incense and precious oils

say this is mine

leave the trashy to their spoils

stay free of the critic

and wary of the leach

be they idiot or psychic

they do well in speech

tell the universe

you are stuck, uninspired

you've lost your purse 

in the sludge you are mired

know this is temporary

there's no ghost to give

talk to a fairy

wake up and live

it is better to try

and end with a mess

than to sit and to cry

over somebody else's mess. basically.

it is now late in the day

and early in the evening

what's better than a play

to set the bells ringing

ring ring ring ring

take a trolley to the park

ding dang dung ding

sing a song in the dark

the end

and now to click on the 'publish' button and don't look at this till tomorrow. But wait, here's a link (which must be copied and pasted) to the Thai Elephant Conservation Center. Click on the 'Process'  tab at the top to see how elephant paper is made:

http://www.elephantdungpaper.com/fact.html

....

Passenger Number Three

When searching for a dragon,

the one who sleeps at sea,

take sail with a Phoenician 

in a boat that carries three.

With you and the Phoenician,

of three, that makes but two. 

That which fills the space that's left

is woven from bamboo.

This basket's lined with mirrors

reflecting moon and sea.

This paper covered lantern

is passenger number three. 

Don't look into the lantern.

Ha! this you shouldn't do,

for all that you will find there

is a mirror holding you...

...alone with your reflection

in a boat that carries three.

Beyond your sight a dragon

crests the surface of the sea.

.......

(the moral of the story - when sailing with Phoenicians,
wait till you get home to look in the mirror.)

Drumpath

Drums beat steady

one upon another

not far beyond

a stone's throw away.

You wade into the river

and lie down

in its mossy shallows

the floating green

curls and shapes around you

like smoke

your thoughts fall

into the haze
dreams fill the places

your thoughts

have been.

They are just as vague.

Drums beat steady

one upon another

not far beyond

a heart's beat away

Drums beat steady

one upon another
true memory follows 

the path of dreams.

(in loving memory of Bryan Osper)

Into the Silence

Into the silence goes earth
the face of the mother

 who created a home for time.

We appear, disappear,
 a tear fallen from her eye.


...

Noumena

We bend the light 

from a sunlit sea 

and strum its colored strands.

We capture the burst 

of a fallen star 

bounce it betweeen

our upheld palms

and pop open seeds 

to speak like flowers.

We glide through rock

with aeonic seduction

whispering, “multiply”  

and it does
 into tiny grains of sand.

“Don’t tell.” we murmer,

and travel on...

We are so beloved 

the rock willingly 

disassembles
to its
molten core 

and does not tell.

Ever A Child In This Garden

I was born in this garden

within its secret ways

amongst those who grow here rootless

and blooms that go unseen.

This garden's lapped by waters.

Its gateway is the sky.

And this garden always travels

by way of the sun

encircled by the moon.

I can play in this garden,

 grow gardens of my own.

I have only to remember

I am one of countless born here,

I am not an only child.

This garden is around me

everywhere I am and 

even when I fly I travel

in this garden, Earth's garden

by way of the sun

encircled by the moon.

.......