and there
you are again
in memory
a bird at night
I think I see fly
from tree to tree
a shadow really
a blink
a blur of air
a longing
it isn’t fair to miss
you, like this
This Missing
20 Tuesday Jan 2026
Posted in Poetry
Permission to Be Happy
18 Sunday Jan 2026
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Crows, Generations, Happiness, Hope, Life, Music, Poem, Poems, Poetry, River, Survival, Symphony
Yes, the world is falling apart,
But for now, here, in this space,
It is quiet with music and candle:
Notturno No 3: Dreams of love,
Mixed with sandalwood and vanilla,
A fire crackling sweet brick-sound.
Last night, we strolled the city
Attended the symphony,
Before that, we walked forest paths,
Alive with the greenest moss-ways,
Fronds of pine, marked our path
Along the sweet, swollen river.
I found the crows there,
The ones who have disappeared
From our quiet winter sky.
They spoke our arrival to the trees,
Their cries echoing generations.
Yes, the world is chaos, but here
We do not need to know it.
Not now. Not later in this day.
I have permission from the universe
You see, to be happy anyway.
Walking On
17 Saturday Jan 2026
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Children, Family, Generations, Hope, Life, Love, Love Poems, Mercy, Miracles, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Winter, Winter poem, Yearning
we press on, despite,
wait for the light,
live for finding
meaning, like a beacon,
we saw it flash
once, we think
a field was revealed
we ran across barefoot
waved dandelion seeds
a year passed;
we went back, weeds,
high as our kneecaps.
we gather our children
pray for happiness
search for them,
in open fields,
on sunny days
my son said,
here is your grandson
I wanted to cry
with the weight of it.
another son climbed
a rock wall, his ex-lover
shared photos from below.
I thought, will they?
today, it is day, but dark
and we will explore
wet paths through forest,
as I pray for rain.
Unrooted
16 Friday Jan 2026
Posted in Poetry
The fluffed up chickadees
bounce around our tree,
oblivious to winter.
We have secrets,
They say,
Show them to me,
I say,
But they leave,
and I am left looking
at bare branches of a tree,
bound to its place,
rooted, where I rooted it,
as the world becomes
unrooted.
What Comes In Fog
15 Thursday Jan 2026
Posted in Poetry
Their burdens
are heavy,
and come
clickity-clicking
like train-sound
on a still day.
There is a sun
the world blots out.
We search the fog
for answers,
trace blurred lines
of distant trees,
search memory
for a map pin
of where
we want to be.
If I told you
to shine anyway,
could you?
Even the atoms
call out for help;
sometimes,
they whisper,
more often,
they shout.
Yes, the fog
is thick again,
but it is lifting.
Song of Namaste
12 Monday Jan 2026
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Death, Fallen Angels, Flute, Hope, Music, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Salvation, Souls, Spirit, Survival, Yearning
I honor the light in you. I honor the light in myself.
A song of sun, released,
Twinkling off snow–
When we die, will we cease
To sing, or will there be a place
Where there is only music?
I lift the flute to my lips
And think of the fallen man, once,
Who played his songs, broken.
I thought them lovelier
Than he’d sung before, chords
Played for a small audience
Of those willing to listen.
Sing me a song of salvation,
And I will breathe you back
A tune only angels can hear.
Namaste, namaste,
Let fallen angels find their way
Back to light, in broken songs.
I Am the Mountain
11 Sunday Jan 2026
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Immovable, Life, Love, Mantra, Mountain Pose, Mt Spokane, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Strength, Survival, yoga
The mountain stands alone,
Unmoved by wind, or snow,
And I stand, arms raised,
In the distant below,
Saying, I am the Mountain.
And whether that’s true,
Or not, I have found it
Today, in this mantra,
And, at least for the moment,
It is my mind’s goal.
I think of all the past ways
People have moved me,
No more, no more,
I am the mountain.
Yoga With Horses
10 Saturday Jan 2026
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Division, Hope, Horse Poem, Horse poetry, Horses, Life, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Souls, Spirit, yoga
At first, I am a mountain,
And the appy,
Recently orphaned,
Is happily in my face.
Since she’s there,
I use her back for balance,
Mucking boot in air,
It is the dancer’s pose,
And I hold it,
As she holds me.
The herd gathers ’round
For the warrior,
And the Goddess,
A protective circle
Of equine largess.
Did I mention the snow,
Or how the sun shown
In bright celebration
Upon it?
Old Woman In a Rocking Chair
09 Friday Jan 2026
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Affair, Divorce, Family, Generations, grandmother, nana, Poem, Poems, Poetry
as far as we know,
it went on forty years,
the driving by, first,
then, the driving up near,
watching
from across the road.
that is the woman, she’d say,
who stole your grandfather.
by that time, both were old,
abandoned,
and he ended up dead.
my mother said,
as a little girl,
she’d been sent to deliver
an envelope that would ruin
the old woman in the chair
forever.
it didn’t. life did.
or didn’t, depends
on who’s telling it.
anyway, my mother
has a half brother
the exact same age,
an unknown uncle
showed up at the grave,
grieving the father
he never knew
alongside a half-sister
there to grieve, too.
what did she see,
when she looked at the porch,
forty lonely long years later,
or thought of the chair’d temptress,
who had somehow made her?
Snow Squall After Sun
08 Thursday Jan 2026
Posted in Poetry
A half hour before it came,
Before it rained down
Twirling, swirls of endless
Snow, the warning came first:
Avoid the roads!
Prepare for outages!
A day that began in sun,
Seemed unfit for a squall,
Yet, we found one–
Or, it found us,
Extinguished the lights,
The heat, the sounds
You don’t notice
Until you hear real silence.
Or, have it thrust upon you.
Whatever the case,
It was a thing of beauty.
And today, the sun is back,
As if it has returned for a bow,
Like, Tada! Look what I did!
And now, I am amazed
Nature, and its beautiful way
Of transformation
Of unpredictable wonder
Of, what feels like a baptism
For those willing to applaud,
For those willing to give
Even a standing ovation
For Nature, and its creation.
Let Us Dance
07 Wednesday Jan 2026
Tags
Afterlife, Beauty, Belief, Eternity, Forgiveness, God, Grace, Gratitude, Healing, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Prayer, Sacred, Soul, Souls, Spirit, Spirits, The Universe, Yearning
Do you want to know
about God?
From one fallen
so short of God?
From one who cries
out for God?
Do you want to know
about Grace?
From someone in need
Of Grace?
From someone who yearns
for Grace?
Do you want to know
about survival, love,
even suffering,
like I do?
Let us dance.
Fallen Angels
07 Wednesday Jan 2026
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Angels, Death, Eternity, Fallen Angels, Forgiveness, God, Grace, Hope, Love, Milton, Paradise Lost, Philip Yancey, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Sin, Sinners, Souls, Spirit, Spirits, Yearning
“I have failed morally and spiritually, and I grieve over the devastation” Philip Yancey
Now the walk begins
Hand in hand, alone
With other fallen
Grace is greatest
Here, in the lonely place
Of our true selves,
Shunned by other men
And our only consolation
Creation, as it sings,
Stings, and wrings our souls:
Which way shall I fly?
In the lowest deep, A lower
Deep, in the heart of it
Weakness. Always, weaker
Than we knew
Or, admitted to ourselves
The Geranium
06 Tuesday Jan 2026
Posted in Poetry
I lit that house up like fire,
With stringed lights,
So that everyone who drove by
Had to look in.
It was a long time ago,
And before it was popular.
Year round lights, as if to say,
What happens here is a delightful mystery.
Once upon a time,
A man bought a house next door.
He was from Portland,
And thought the lights
Would make a good neighbor.
(He told me so later.)
Many years have passed,
And now I’m looking back,
Beneath the lights,
Wondering about the belief
That strung them, tree from tree,
That lit the fire in the chimenea,
And laughed into the late hours
With old neighbors, drawn to light,
Like a lone windowsill geranium
In a colorless city,
Eventually fallen from its perch,
Broken, shattered clay of pot,
Roots reaching for a smattering of air.
Barn Cats
05 Monday Jan 2026
Posted in Poetry
The mice are hibernating
And so are the boys.
No birds to catch,
And the lull of winter,
A snatch of dreams,
Days end fast.
Do they look forward,
Like we do?
Twelfth day, twelfth night,
A turning light of anticipation,
A transition to being awake,
Awakened roots of trees,
Preparing for spring,
The return to living.
Yet, for the barn cats,
A return to killing.
Finding the Sun
04 Sunday Jan 2026
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Afterlife, Belief, Courage, Divorce, Family, Fog, Freedom, Healing, Hope, Life, Love, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Strength, Survival, Winter poem, Yearning
It is a dark night
And fog has settled
As if to say no
To every question
the solitude
of not being able to see
What will happen
Or if you’ll survive
What is about to come
This is the time to remember
Who you are
How you got here
Why you came all this way
Down the broken road
Even if you didn’t know
Life, like the fog
Never seeing too far
Sight is an illusion
One more step
Keep stepping
Eventually, you find sun
I Was Wrong
02 Friday Jan 2026
Posted in Poetry
I thought she was like me,
The practicer of goodbyes,
The mover on’er
The cutter of moldering ties.
I was wrong.
Had I known how long
She’d still be broken,
Would I have broken, too,
What remaining pieces in me
Were still able to be broken:
Lost shards, tossed about,
On the floor of my soul.
Some things are too hard to see,
They must come slowly,
Like our failure to answer,
Unanswered prayers,
Or to stop the cruel rendering
Of her chronically tender heart.
A Day
01 Thursday Jan 2026
Posted in Poetry
The frost is so thick
They mistake it for snow
The world turned to ice
Frozen, in a new year
2026, I must say it
Over and over
Since time has stopped
There is no reference
Except seasons
Except birds
Or, no birds
Yet, the robin remains
Fearless of the frost
And I’m left to wonder
At the reference
At time, or no time
All time, collapsed
Into a single day
In (say it) 2026
Witness
31 Wednesday Dec 2025
Posted in Poetry
So, it is a beautiful day.
The sun will win it,
Blue sky have its way,
Beyond the trees to Mt Spokane,
Even Canada.
There is frost on the ground,
No snow or rain,
The painful heat of summer,
Barely a memory now.
In my finite days,
This offers to be a good one.
I should mark it:
December 31, 2025.
I am alive
To witness the sun shine.
A New Year And New Door
30 Tuesday Dec 2025
Posted in Poetry
A New Year, or so they say,
A new start, the passing of one day,
Which allows us to close a door.
I am thinking of who I want to be,
If believing a clean slate can set one free.
What didn’t serve well in 2025?
Or, didn’t serve my entire life?
And how does one change the habits
Of who we are, even bad,
The hobgoblins of our past,
Which lead to regrets, sadness.
What is it blocking joy;
What foils our better self,
Cedes territory to the evil elves
Sent to destroy happiness?
If age, and wisdom, could be a shield,
And we’d yield no more to influences,
What could rebirth truly be?
I’m asking you to envision
What I cannot see. Or, haven’t seen,
A shiny new door, clearly marked ‘free.’
Traditions
28 Sunday Dec 2025
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Christmas, Death, Death Poems, Loss, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Purpose, Survival, Traditions
The traditions remain:
An old family tree,
The making
Of Gingerbread houses,
Wreaths, and lights,
A Christmas fondue–
And I ask,
Will they get me through this?
On the other side of the shadows,
Is my shadow,
I take that by faith, too.
He said, I can’t find my purpose.
I wondered out loud,
Is there a purpose?
Besides surviving, that is.
And the smaller things we cling to,
Making them bigger things–
An outsized portion of our existence
Is in the minutes, winding down.
To wallow in the shadows
Is, perhaps, a luxury.
It comes to this:
At first, we know everything,
Then, nothing,
And at last,
We are okay
With our lack.
Bits of Poetry 