Scuttlebugs creepin
and rumor-juice seepin
slippin on a cacti
gettin baptized by needlin
poked and stoked and choked by jokes
that won’t slow but don’t hold 
blow up like smoke
no the chatter titter tatter doesn’t stop but doesn’t matter
if you can’t turn off the tweeters or the haters make em fatter
serve em beef on a platter
feed em fodder for their patter
but don’t ever take a bite of the mush that they plate
know your push from your pull
and your fish from your bait
make em flop, make em fin
try to stop all the spin
take a breath
get off the ride
and go find your mountain

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love notes
a ritual to start the work week

Peace, come find me
turning over stones.
Peace, go with me,
together and alone.

Peace, fulfill me:
quiet, open, here.
Peace, release me
from fantasy and fear.

Peace, see through me;
bare my eager soul.
Peace, speak through me
the words to make us whole.

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love notes
a ritual to start the work week

Sometimes cycles close before we know it,
before we can recognize some great end.
Quiet denouements slip through our fingers
and fade into the sand under our feet.
No clear horizon to set our gaze on,
no time, nor space to turn back, reflective,
sometimes our steps just find us farther on.

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love notes
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.

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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

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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)

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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love notes
a ritual to start the work week