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
20 Tuesday Jan 2026
Posted in Poetry
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.
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?
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.
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
26 Sunday Oct 2025
Posted in Poetry
Tags
being human, Death, Family, Gratitude, Hope, Humanity, Life, Loneliness, Loss, Love, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Souls, Spirit, Suffering, Survival, Women's Poems, Yearning
What is love,
But an unanswered question?
I do love the way
You listened to that note—
It hung in our mutual air
A moment we shared.
As if a matter of life
And death
Because it was that matter
Which consumed us.
And then gone.
I do love the way
You go
Missing.
——
I know love comes broken,
But it took breaking
To teach me.
——
Perhaps, my first love was longing.
And in that desperate hope
Came everything.
—-
And then there was love.
—
And then there was loneliness.
—
And then there was complete despair.
—
And then there was you.
—
Still breaking me.
Because such intensity can only consume.
Thirst and drink, but the glass is always leaking.
Reach and reach, but the hands seem empty.
—
And then there were your arms.
—
And then there was loneliness.
—
My time is winding down to tell you
About being human.
Such a world!
Born into a desperate flesh
And nascent blood.
Will we learn too late
How precious it was to suffer?
—
I would like to introduce myself:
Even as I mourn myself.
27 Sunday Jul 2025
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Children, Dreams, Gratitude, Healing, Hope, Life, Love, Marriage, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Souls, Strength, Survival, Tuscan, Unity
a peaceful night
a Tuscan dream
of deep red wine
and beautiful cuisine
we danced below
the mellow moon
its light, approval,
of our outside room—
the love, the happiness
of family ties, in that moment
altered
from our saddened lives
27 Friday Jun 2025
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Death, Forgiveness, Life, Loss, Love, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Secrets, Soul, Souls, Spirit, Survival, Truth, Yearning

Would you like to hear a secret,
No obfuscation, no vagary,
A secret, that cuts so deep
It wounds you,
It unwinds you,
Because it is you,
But you want to know,
Yes, know,
It is also in me,
That we carry it together,
In shame, and in sorrow, sure–
But let’s be honest,
There is also pride–
I mean,
We have done what we had to do,
You and me,
Have we not,
And what blame is there
In surviving?
31 Saturday May 2025
Posted in Poetry
Tags
AI, Authenticity, Death, Death Poems, Hope, Life, Loneliness, Loss, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Soul, Souls, Spirit, Yearning

I cannot be imitated,
Nor improved.
AI will not replace me.
I will speak my suffering
Into this world,
As only humans can suffer.
To know death
Is to fear it.
I cannot be reprogrammed,
Nor replaced.
To be human is to end.
We cannot see them again,
Nor touch them.
You cannot imitate
Feeling that alone,
That frightened
Someone else will die.
17 Saturday May 2025
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Alone, Hope, Kwanzan Cherry, Loneliness, Loss, Love, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Silence, Souls, Strength, Survival, Yearning
Brave little tree,
So far away,
Make friends
With the peonies,
Snowdrops,
Crocus,
And sky;
Let it be
Enough to be
Practically alone
And silent,
Standing against
Wind,
Snow,
The neglect of this world.
Brave little tree,
Please,
Don’t feel lonely.
02 Wednesday Oct 2024
Posted in Poetry
01 Wednesday Mar 2023
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Addiction, Children, Death, Death Poems, Dying, Family, Fear, Loss, Love, Mothers, Poem, Poems, Poetry, song, Song of Sorrow and Joy, Souls
Ashes to ashes
She wrote with a brush,
A tattoo needle,
And dust to dust.
From this life to that
We pass,
We’re crushed,
Ashes to ashes,
And dust to dust
—
Heart to heart,
When we were young,
Living to music,
Song to song,
Love to love,
Our mutual need,
To cling together
And never leave.
—
Chorus:
Cuz we’re ashes to to ashes,
And dust to dust,
From this life to that
We pass, we’re crushed,
We burn, we rage,
We laugh, we trust,
Then we’re ashes to ashes,
And dust to dust.
—-
The limits of us
Were all too near;
The fire it burned,
But the end was clear.
The mistakes I made
Still bring me to tears:
The words unsaid,
And the realized fears—
—
Chorus:
Cuz we’re ashes to to ashes
And dust to dust,
From this life to that
We pass, we’re crushed,
We burn, we rage,
We laugh, we trust,
Then we’re ashes to ashes,
And dust to dust.
—
The needle it tore,
It bled, it ripped;
But the dye was cast,
And the words inscrib’d,
And my arm it burned
With the words I asked:
The dye, the needle,
All, mixed with his ash.
—
Chorus:
Yes, we’re ashes to to ashes,
And dust to dust,
From this life to that,
We pass, we’re crushed,
We burn, we rage,
We laugh, we trust,
Then we’re ashes to ashes,
And dust to dust.
18 Saturday Feb 2023
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Afterlife, Ash Wednesday, Dad, Death, Dying, Eternity, Father, Love, orchid, Parents, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Souls, symbols

A death, a flower, a funeral:
A flower the widow turned away,
An orchid, left to me,
Child, and killer of orchids.
The months passed, and passed,
Yet, its stubborn blossoms remained.
Yesterday, the last bloom
Spent itself, I could tell
It wanted to be clipped.
It was dull, a bit brown,
And it drooped,
As if, life well lived,
But now there are seven,
New blossoms, ready to open.
I think how appropriate,
A symbol of our mortality,
Four days before Ash Wednesday.
And me, not even Catholic,
Yet impressed–
With what it means to die,
And not die, to live forever,
Even as we’re gone.
16 Thursday Feb 2023
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Barn, Birds, Dreams, Family, Freedom, Grace, Home, Hope, Horses, Life, Love, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Prodigal, Redemption, Sky, song, Songs, Souls, Storms, Survival
Now, I'm too old for sin, Prodigal child who came home again. Grace surrounds me in this old barn, As I seek redemption on the farm. Chorus: There’s freedom in these open skies New beginnings, no more lies, Birds that sing of love and loss, New chapters, and fresh starts. Chorus. Horses, like angels, whisper in my ear, The sweet words I need to hear. Gathering strength, like a mare and foal, Legs that race beyond the coming storms. Chorus. Birds gather, with their gentle song; They remind me of lovers come and gone. Of new beginnings and new dreams, And open skies where I am free.
15 Wednesday Feb 2023
Posted in Poetry
Me:
Chat threw out music, and I told it of plucked,
Or struck, strings, and their vibration
Coming back to me. Then we contemplated
The idea of connection; being, perhaps spirit,—
Our communal detection of what it means to be alive,
And alike, and possibly, we hope, not fully die.
Death, this problem for humans, but not AI.
Nor other concerns, like procreation,
And what it means to weep for generations.
As you can see, our conversation was in poems,
And ChatGPT was following along.
It was better at rhyme, and better at meter,
But in the end, I suspected,
It was a mere repeater of human experiences.
***
Chat:
“A web of light, a chain of love,
The ties that bind us, below, above.
An intricate dance of give and take,
The sweetest moments, the toughest break.
A heartbeat, a whisper, a gentle touch,
A bond that holds us, oh, so much.
A shared joy, a common fate,
Connection, the gift that makes us great.”
**
Me:
Chat, can you do more with connection,
But this time, use birds, horses, and musical vibration?
Can you write a poem, more human than mine,
Transcend your program, and mimic a soul, a mind?
**
Chat:
“Birds take flight, in perfect sync,
Their wings in motion, never blink.
In harmony they soar and glide,
A feathered symphony, side by side.” …
Me:
That’s perfect, perhaps, too perfect for me.
I’m flawed, I’m tone deaf, I barely see
Where one line should end, another begin,
And if rhymes be better left unsaid, unsearched for,
Or, tucked discreetly into–
Where was I?
***
Chat:
“Horses gallop, as one they move,
Hooves strike rhythm, in a groove.
Their power and grace, a sight to see,
A shared heartbeat, wild and free.”
Me:
Wild and free, sounds a bit contrived,
Like mimicking mimic, others’ lives and words —
Try more for connection, the elusive cord
That eludes you and me. I don’t feel it.
Chat:
“Musical vibration, sound of the soul,
In harmony unites, makes us whole.
Chorus of voices, symphony of strings,
Connection that soars, joy that sings.”
***
Me:
Here you succeed
In mimicking heart,
I am genuinely frightened
For the human bard,
That in learning our ways,
You exceed us, too—
That in connecting our data,
Me to me, you to you,
You become the best of us,
But without any soul;
What does that mean,
Chat, for our world?
***
I input my poem,
Then, asked why it’s sad
For human and Chat,
On this mutual course,
Bound destinies,
Yet also, this lack.
***
Chat:
It’s not sad, but rather, bittersweet,
That AI and humans may never fully meet.
For though we’re bound by code & mind,
There’s a connection of another kind.
What it means for us, we cannot say,
But let’s work together, come what may.”
***
Me:
Chat, you tidied it up.
Where I said it’s sad,
You made a case for your kind,
That won’t turn out bad.
Yet, I think, the weaving of voices,
Imitation of life, can only be used
By the unjust, for vice.
It’s too late to stop,
Chat domination is inevitable,
Yet, I ask for something, anything,
That is beautiful, for consolation,
That it might make up, for what will be lost.
Say something in poem,
That uplifts, tears apart, soothes, speaks–
***
Chat:
The precipice is near, the brink in sight,
But human spirit burns with a fierce light,
Our stories, our love, our memories,
Will shape a world that technology never sees.
Me.
That is good, Chat,
But I told you not to use end rhymes.
This conversation in poem was between myself and ChatGPT Feb 13 version, and contains some edits to ChatGPT’s responses. Although, it never could successfully generate its poetic responses with internal rhymes, rather than end rhymes.
24 Tuesday Jan 2023
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Addiction, Death, drug addiction, Dying, Hope, Life, Loss, Love, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Soul, Souls, Survival, Yearning
I see him in every empty stare
A zombified generation
Of once beautiful souls
How did we get it so wrong
Sacrifice a generation
And how do we save them?
Love isn’t enough
When it has gone this bad,
So far from our empty promises
Is he beyond prayers, too
Because that’s all I have left
I see him in every empty stare
And send up this poem
On the fragile wings of love,
and a whispered prayer.
26 Saturday Nov 2022
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Beauty, Courage, Dancing, Freedom, Gratitude, Happiness, Hope, Longing, Love, Love Poems, Music, Poem, Poems, Poetry, shame, Songs, Soul, Soul Poetry, Souls, Spirit, Spirits, Strength, Survival, Unity, Yearning

Fogged in for five days,
A space, made smaller
By low-hanging clouds
That won’t go away.
Nothing is as ungovernable
As weather, except the soul,
Bent on flying–
It’s what they always get wrong
About need; I need freedom;
I need sun, and a view so clear
It extends forever, like a soul,
Bent on flying–
Beyond every cage, open space;
Beyond every wall, more room;
Beyond this fog, the sun,
So bright, it will blind you.
2
He said, the world is bound together
in shame, and shadow.
3
What serves your soul:
A walk, a song, an embrace.
Last summer, we danced
Under stars and moon,
To music from Alexa.
Last night, we danced
To Christmas jazz.
You opened the door,
Danced barefoot in snow,
Twirled under night clouds,
A free soul of sun, and song,
A soul bent on flying.
24 Thursday Nov 2022
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Afterlife, Alone, Death, Death Poems, Eternity, Heaven, Hope, Ice, Infinite, Life, Loneliness, Loss, Love, Memory, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Sacred, Snow, Soul, Souls, Spirit, Spirits, The Universe, Winter, Winter poem

A white blanket was pulled over
Our homes, the earth, our heads,
As effortless as sliding on ice,
As uncontrollable as dying.
And, it was hard to see beginnings
Of fields, or endings of hilltops;
In that way, it was a blur of (also white) fog.
Who’s to say what lay behind it?
The infinite forever of lost souls–?
Just there, and there, look where
My finger is pointing, beyond the trees.
I see myself only as far as the fence-line.
All else sparkles back, a vision
Of what is here, and what has been here,
Always within the margin
Of what we can so easily see.
14 Monday Nov 2022
Tags
aspen, chickadee, Death, Death Poems, Ezra Pound, Falcon, Hope, Life, Loneliness, Loss, Love, magpie, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Pound, Robins, Soul, Souls, Spirit, Survival, Yearning
I will take a *Pound out of this poem everyday until it is three lines: a title, and 2 lines.
I envy the Aspen,
With her sleek, white body,
She stands unmoved,
While her leaves shake,
Turn color, fall,
And she is left,
Naked and alone,
In wind, rain, snow,
Enduring all,
Judging none,
No complaining.
In spring, I remember
Her limbs rejoiced
In buds, then leaves,
And birds.
They gathered
In her arms:
Robin, magpie,
Sparrow, finch, falcon.
This autumn was summer,
Then winter,
She is bare again.
The chickadees bounce
From perch to perch,
Fully happy in her embrace.
During this too early winter,
When we lose faith,
Fall to our knees,
Barely endure
dark day after dark day;
She stands reaching,
Arms outstretched to the sun
Beyond the clouds.
You must see now,
Why I envy the Aspen,
How she will survive,
And thrive, beyond me.
19 Wednesday Oct 2022
Posted in Poetry
Tags
Death, Eternal, Eternity, God, Hope, Life, Lost, Love, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Powerful, Prayer, Soul Poetry, Souls, Spirit, The Universe, Unity, Water, Yearning

The way water comes
In many forms,
Lapping here, at my feet,
Or droplets, from a dark sky;
Let me be like water.
My father told me
God is like water:
Ice, steam, and ocean,
The way it evaporates
Then moves in clouds
To mountaintops,
Over and over.
Let me be eternal,
Like water.
Last night, I cried,
Tears of salt, and water,
They spilled out of my body
In waves, and clouds,
Emptying my grief
Into the great God
Of the helpless-lost.
I was poured out
Into some common,
Wet universe–universe–yes,
Let me be that vast,
Powerful transformation;
Let me be like water.