Sunday morning

my heart
rock
dropped
in a still pool

observing
now
while
remembering
when

old man

an old man
head in hands
squatting on
porcelin

mind full
of dead beat
sierra poetry

bowels losing
the last day's work

knowing who he is

a man
a husband
a father
a teacher

still thinking
       pushing aside medical bills
about catching
words
in virtual nets

like mosquito
eaters
trapped
between
window glass
and screen

Present Moment

My mind is
on Mars
at the
present moment

I'm listening to the morning sounds
coffee perking
paws on the floorboards

My feet stir
red dust
at the present moment
the turmoil of
just another day
stirs up the present

moment.

Breathe deep
listen to the dog snore
breath out - only moment
smell the dog musk and

feel the sun shine through the window

and down the corridor

where my loved ones stir

present moment
while my mind wanders
over the inner falls
of my out breath

and I witness my life
like a pebble dropped in still water

in the present moment.

Gratitude

Like placer gold
panned from the stream of experience
we have mined a life together

jewels discovered in the light

a young woman suns
on a delta deck
early days by the water

laughing I hold a
wiggling bass as you
scream in the shower

in a shepard's hut
on a mountainside in Crete
the wonder of our life

high pass in the alps
You stretched out on the mountain grass
NATO helicopters rumble by below

the faint smell of olive trees
blossoming Greek morning
Mycenae
I climb the Lion's Gate for you

in the beehive tombs of Agamemnon
the echos of our young voices
repeat
I love you

blocks of ancient limestone
eroded steps
exposed by time
a chalk marked path
top of the pyramid

Sahara, silent and eternal
The scared horse flesh carries us
where Caesar and Napoleon rode.

drag a finger in the Nile
risk the worm infection
to feel the flow
African water
becomes Mediterranean Sea.

inside
the boy king's tomb
alone, alive, breathing the
captured air
a few moments together
last forever

worn smell of the old hotels
the Raj molders
in Darjeeling
breakfast tea and curry
Kanchenjunga is the sky
our knees touching
over continental breakfast

sitting in the old Sikh's parlor
Kalimpong motorcycle
a Royal Enfield
he once rode to Calcutta
shared with us
gleaming pride

leopard tracks the snow
on the trail to Annapurna
we share a lunch
with jungle monkeys
Dhaulagiri ridge to heaven
as the mists pull back
we are in the Himalaya


long climb
a high pass in Nepal
a boy stands by
a wash tub
of icy water
bobbing brown bottles
Star Beer
Namaste
what time is now?
a porter's day wage
consumed in slow greedy gulps

spider veins
the Brahmaputra
in the dry season
maheer
land locked
Indian tarpon
thick sided
golden scaled
roll in the narrow creeks
swim to the sea


sliding like a slow snake
the Brahmaputra spills the Himalayan
snow melt, now muddy tea, into the
Bay of Bengal

the moment in the bazaar
too weak to push forward
I leaned on you
you helped me stand
I knew you were the
one

The English added gardens to the Taj Mahal
where we decided to have children
make 'our hearts hostage to fate'
be in this wheel of life every moment

and we feel the wonder of our days
again
living moments
recalled and treasured
hard won placer gold

cut bank memories

forgotten spring

a forest pool

a huge trout

in the cut bank

lurks,

balanced in the current

waiting for a meal


I belly crawl

earning a glimpse

huge humped green back

golden speckled sides


I've forgotten where the hidden pool is

and only find it

when minnow-flicker

memories

swept down stream

briefly swim

then swallowed

by the beast

from under the ledge.


Take 2


time crushed granite

a golden pebble bed

current raked

elbow in the stream.

cut bank

time and water carved

where the current pushes

against hidden stone

an old trout

ready for the wet mayfly

or fingerling trespasser


solo backpacking

a glimpse of a mythic fish

each year I return

stealthy

to spy grandpa trout


a century later he lingers

in the cut banks of memory

forgotten the range

forgotten the trail

remember the cut bank trout

hidden

waiting for a meal