a ritual to start the work week
We make stars from ourselves,
fashion them from our love, hope-stuff
caught in heaven, burning.
A feedback loop turning,
building strength and expanding,
we give and get and give.
We reach, follow and live,
guidance grown from our focus,
leaving behind our hells.
love notes
a ritual to start the work week
your devotion covers me
sacred stone glimmers in the rain
— holds me
ink sewn into these pages
many palms against my spine
calming my shoulders
trellis wound with morning glory
adorned and adored
justice and forward tumbles
feeling through mid-air
no certain future
but every step firm
love notes
a ritual to start the work week
Look up
sun’s shine
cloud’s veil
rain’s kiss
boundless blessings
Look down
earth’s warmth
mud’s brick
foot’s point
grounded guidance
Look out
field’s breadth
tree’s reach
road’s palm
countless choices
Look in
heart’s pump
nerve’s spark
cup’s fill
sprouting promise
love notes
a ritual to start the work week
Terror chimes their ominous bells
(time comes, sea flows)
Airplanes fill and earth-flames swell
(wounds heal, heart knows)
Empty homes and crowded closets
(time comes, sea flows)
Half-roofs that rains deposit
(wounds heal, heart knows)
Truck-beds haul away heavy sheets
(time comes, sea flows)
Soaking, salty; sewing, sweet
(wounds heal, heart knows)
Digging in sand, stitching with pens
(time comes, sea flows)
Building will begin again
(wounds heal, heart knows)
love notes
a ritual to start the work week
Old hauntings float along my brain-creases,
airy refrains humming with summer bugs,
counting miles by hundreds. Souls by millions
crowd to micro-canyons under my skull.
Pin-head polkas and salsas slip ’tween
buzzing byways, all beep and honk, gridlock
brightened by these rush-hour street dancers,
small blooms opening spaces, forcing pause.
Quiet. Can you feel that one slow two-step
stalling the amygdala express bus?
The tapping toes of its gaunt passengers,
impatient to work my nerves? They can wait.
love notes
a ritual to start the work week
restoring balance
after a break
steadier footing
in used shoes
new heirlooms
warming/snug
even narrow paths can support our heft
loads heavy on our shoulders
lightened by infinite angels
love notes
a ritual to start the work week
Her wisdom waits
no rush to revelation
quiet canopy conceals
inevitable truths
Humble rags worn
holy with heavy use
practiced purification
countless small circles
Hair smoke screen
legato plucking loops
unknotting knowledge
strand by strand
love notes
a ritual to start the work week
my coffee wants me to do a jig
or the hokey pokey
or to show up early,
but my computer is slowing me down.
go fig.
five-day-old flowers flop and unfurl, alternately;
updates fail; a restart is required.
sitting here turning over a new week,
new cards—no leaves to speak of—
possibilities do-si-do between my temples,
squares bending into circles
like ice-cleaved stones
after a thousand years of melt.
love notes
a ritual to start the work week
Maybe hearts were made for breaking:
pincushions, fluff-and-stuffed for jab
after sharp jab. These squishy fists
that clench hope upon hope, ready
to absorb their dashings, spit out
the shards, muscle up like beefcakes
who tear themselves apart daily.
For surely hearts are made to heal,
watered with tears, tended with warmth:
woody roots that split and regrow
in fresh soil. Clumps of sod, damp and
dirty, hold together, knowing
mostly darkness, unsure of the sun.
Turned over by our spades, they groan
before calloused hands reset them,
ready to nourish new growth.
love notes
a ritual to start the work week
the path I walk is not my own
thrown around this loop centuries ago
flowing from ancient springs
flinging spray around this bend
sending sunlight into new creases
these tracks embrace my wheels
feeling warm and worn around me
deviating just slightly with momentum
something invisible that invites
widening the arc by degrees
easily press into fresh ground
round the curve
earth waiting millennia for our feet
meeting here and moving on
love notes
a ritual to start the work week
reset; clouds roll into the valley,
green hills veiled by their rain,
hand presses through earth
into fog
reset; fingertips grip boulder cracks,
brow-sweat swiped by thumb-base crease,
chest wet, pearlless and
clutched in awe
reset; cold glasses drip in the heat,
fast sidewalks calmed by savor,
slow sips and nibbles
nourishing
reset; long embraces stretch for days,
worn hearts warmed by reunion,
bright eyes shine from candor
and relief
love notes
a ritual to start the work week
