Currents

 

Dad, he woke before the dawn

he dresses in the dark and he’s gone.

The car engine moans, he drives in alone

to deepen pits in endless rows.

His boss says “My friend, in life there’s nothing free.

and no one can afford to be,

so put your aching hands to oiling their machine.”

 

The dutiful lost in their going

cry buzzsaw swarms engulf the slow ones.

Each will decide if in this life

promised deliverance will someday suffice

when every moment’s stained in sacrifice

as we ask ourselves “What do I sell this time?”

(the dismal doorways of despair still will oblige).

 

Fences carve property scars,

each line designed to keep apart

those cutting loose the shortage noose

hung to adorn their gilded ruins.

But until we all break free no one is free

and each glimpse convinces me…

 

We are the currents raging towards release

The luscious veil of daybreak to the east

The sprout proclaiming space through crumbling streets

The gentle-handed new day tendency

So come my sisters, brothers, sing with me

Come my brothers, sisters, sing with me.

Cultivation

 

Poor manners rearranged and praised

‘till wolf pack laws are deemed sane

imbalance pressed on mind frames

is not our true state

and will be burned away

‘till we have ground to cultivate

a human kindness as we bring

love into the world.

 

Nurture the constancy that knows

when weeding back your mad growth

you let roots feed what’s been sown,

so push past your tangles

and stand free and whole,

nourish a simple garden home

the boundless gifts each of us own

to be shared with the world.

 

Turn to the rich soil of your mind

in damp earth offerings we find

a cycle-strength that gifts life.

She leaves us humbled

and with the strength to fight

for ease of breath in living light

for every soul beneath the sky

to be healed down by the garden side.

Summer Golden

 

If you bear a heavy load,

an anxious tug that gnaws you down,

weave your path along dusty trails

that hum the golden season sound.

Warm, slow breezes cool the mind,

the healthy drip of sweat on skin.

Red clay banks all crowned in pine

invite a late-day river swim.

 

Lay you down in pools of jade,

and lingering day she will provide.

Gifts of boughs in breezy shade,

the hazy pulse of world alive.

Alive, this world’s alive,

this world beholds, she is alive.

Alive, this world’s alive,

this world provides, she is alive.

Reddust Refusal

 

Poison paths choke hope from frames of mind

as job-well-done-week’s-vacation

are the holy veils that cloak each wail.

While cold industry priests cry it’s of no concern

that you feel so done-in,

that the human is buried daily beneath this frantic din.

 

Do you see the wound we inflict upon ourselves,

lost in each profitable hell?

Blood for the golden horn, the duties borne,

the roar of their collapsing tower -

oh, how it devours

oh how it feeds us gospels of greed.

Hear the roar of their collapsing tower

oh how it devours

oh how it feeds us gospels of greed…

 

Of false paradise fever material dreams.

Wage slaves beg for scraps bought in life-debt decrees.

Their heads bow exalting slow-death deities,

who hiss schizophrenia and murder the seeds

of what could be.

But beneath pale thrones burns a refusal to go

as hive-mind maintainers of Capital’s row.

We all have inside the tools to overthrow

each technocrat savior hollowing the soul.

We won’t be sold on cowering, on miserably accepting

glorified survival when we deserve better

glorify survival but we will have better.

 

One drop in sight

of pure delight

of moon blue night

gives us strength to break through

the hustle of our reddust days.

 

My agency

nectar sweet

comes to me

as the whispering pine halls enthrall

as baby animals dance in pale spring jubilee… so will we!

Silhouette Spin

 

The cool vapor kiss of the night field’s mist is a friend I know

But her touch of cheek hides the paths I seek in a thick fog glow

While the rag sea bird beak a song that urges play with all

As their silhouettes spin with the oakleaf children’s earthward fall

 

I sing all night

In star gleam white

 

As I dance so young with the lush green clung to our fallen tree friends

their generous decay is a slow wave sway of returning bends.

The creek side stones sing in elder tones sunk in solar flare

and they dance with the trees as the trees hold me with a lover’s care

 

I sing all day

In sun beam’s play

 

One step, two step

hip starts the move

 

breathe in, breathe out

in to the blue

Ancient Love

 

Green river bend heals and holds us.

The rolling thunderhead horizons

gift us rooted lightning coinciding

with our ancient, burning love.

 

Co-being of souls is an ocean,

too bountiful to hold.

Light crowns the galaxies of heart home fullness found

In our radiant human love.

 

Step with me into each moment

Awakening pulse of worlds

Peace flows, lays a path of steady moss bed growth

I’ll love you all my life.

 

Strong spirit eyes,

warm woven shine

the curve of your hip against mine.

In this sacred place

we will build our lives.

Sing Out!

 

Sing out without knowing what or how

over peaks and woodland dells in buoyant swells.

Each voice, a sacred myth we’re living with

until every voice has its own bell to ring

shimmering through everything,

shimmering through!

Cascade

 

The worry wear of wage-mind chill and grind

can muddy down the usefulness this sacred fire I harbor.

So I will sweetly breathe, exhale, release.

so I can hold the promise of each living being close to me

until I see it manifest in word and deed:

each hold creation seed.

 

My winter rooms where comfort turned to greed

are opening their windows to a clean fruition breeze.

I will send forth clear cascading suns,

rejoice in charity of heart towards everyone

as now my child eyes see:

the more I love,

the more love comes to me.

 

My truer childhood self suffers the scorn

when I cling to each broken stone once slipped upon now mourned.

So I will turn back in and love myself.

Be it torrential healing rain

ecstatic living wealth!

Until that vast firmament glow

Is ours to reap and sow.

Dream, Children

 

Come in, children, from the cold…

and warm your hands upon the hearth that simmers sweet.

Each ember’s murmur sparks an age reborn in heat,

reclaimed heat.

 

Hush, my worried children, hush…

and you will hear a steady rhythm in the boughs

who sigh no better time for letting go than now,

than right now.

 

Rest, my weary children, rest…

your soul hangs ragged from the ceaseless grind of years,

lay back and let the fragrant pastures dry each tear

and please draw me near,

and I’ll be near you.

 

Dream, my sleeping children, dream…

and we’ll evoke infinite wonders from the flame

each spark resounds as moss awakening in rain.

 

Moss in rain is how our dreams came.

The acorn earthward

foretold the seed’s burst

oh, how she assures.

Wither Gone

 

My mind’s a blossomed grain

and I sway in fields of remembering

being held by sweet earth while a cool rain

soaks low, my wither’s gone.

The will to live is strong.

 

The clear and savage moon

speaks plainly to the tide’s rhythm inside of you

reflects through foggy mornings on the shallows who

give soul its steady shore.

Each being affirms wave roar.

 

All veins flow from source, sweet home

Her kind light shows

each blessed branching bone.

 

The meadow opens unto me

Old sky teach me to…

 

Set root in what you behold

Bear fruit as the blossoms unfold

You stand on a glowing threshold,

now walk paths of living

As my dawn light burns gold.

Old Bones

 

Our hearts sunk down to core of earth.

Souls arch past stars' celestial mirth.

With you,

so glad to be here, too.

 

Mama runs lush through babies' bloom,

weaves us, all children on her loom

Our minds

are fruit born of her light-spun vine.

 

Past our civilized daze

sumac spirals amaze.

Earth's old bones

no other home.

 

Young buds are fists held up to sun

slow shout, they silently become.

Each leaf

revolts against the death-path lean.

 

Frogs croak, fish dart in silver schools

insects leave old skins 'round the pools.

Step quiet

there are teachings hidden here in sight.

 

Past our civilized daze

sumac spirals amaze.

Earth's old bones

no other home.

 

She knocks softly upon your door

invites a step outside, inward.

Outside the earth turns wide

please leave the burning house behind.

Past Storms

 

Your eyes were fragile, so sad

regrets bathed your temples in dreams you once had.

You built a life, it seemed the right path to tread

but hollow howls echo down the halls you were led

(halls that so many were led).

 

Storms hold a tragic romance

but past turmoil's clouds waits wild starry expanse.

Dad, there is such a goodness in you

my voice rings 'cause you gave us heartsongs so true.

 

So come on, let your voice rise

your inner dimensions still yearn to surprise you

to show you the radiance inside!

Iceflows

 

Your eyes unlock me like the iceflows in the spring

in the silvered heath and meadow

the earth turns so slow

our bodies burn.

 

Your lips are canyons, turquoise river flows me free

towards Pacific roaring moon song

we've waited so long

so come on, let's dive in!

 

You awaken paths inside me,

roots intertwining

in the earthly tangle our light sublime

it climbs and climbs.

 

Your hips invite me to linger on in the cool pine shade

ruddy needles softly laying

bodies interplaying

like peaks touch the sky.

 

Your mind's a spring fed from the earth depth living stone

nourished by the hills a'rippling

your sediment song

gentles me home, gentles my soul

 

You awaken paths inside me,

roots intertwining

in the earthly tangle our light sublime

it climbs and climbs.

 Trying To Find

Well, I’ve wandered through the night

Through an age of man, with a soldier’s hands.

But oh, my love, I’m coming back to your caverns deep

From my haunted sleep, from my haunted sleep.

Well now I’ve been trying to find my way back to your arms for a long time, for a long time.

Years now I’ve roamed, and always in my rambling I yearn for your tender touch kind, your touch kind.

I’ve been trying to find my way back to your arms for a long, long time.

Well I’ve wandered through the mists of ten thousand years,

Of tyrants and tears but now I’m reaching for your queenly touch.

I leave the rut of the road to where the sweet moss grows near a calm stream flow.

That’s where I’ll go, that’s where I’ll go.

 Bramble

I’ll bust and bramble past all the beige lines,

where the mighty mandate and the meek slink and whine.

Never again will they have hold on me, no, no.

Cause I’ll be out rambling across flowing hills

Where the sweet smell of summer hay touches and thrills me

Breathe with me now, let’s taste the air…

Can you hear when she whispers,

“What will your true heart choose?

What will your true heart choose?”

Alone in the break room, you’re fluorescent frozen

To burdens so bleak, a path all that’s chosen

So come on now, come away with me.

And we’ll be out swimming through moon cricket nights

Where the humid embrace of our lovers excite us

They’re calling, they tender invite you and they ask you,

 “What will your true heart choose?

What will your true heart choose?”

You polish your cages of duty and pride but

I see, too, a desperate light in your eyes.  

So come on now, come away with me.

And we’ll cry to the moon ‘round a bonfire bright

We’ll dance with the shadows around it all night

There’s a chance, still.  So let’s go and see, let’s see now,

What will your true heart choose?

What will your true heart choose?

What will you choose?

 Wild Lands

Dust was drifting ‘round the wheels of her car

In the desert heat looking for mesquite

After bundling it up it wasn’t very far

Until new grass betrayed the spring for which we made.

 

Perched upon the lips of gladness, we arrived.

Upon that thorny branch we set a flame to dance

And on hot coals we fried tortillas when the fire died.

Our sacred evening toke in sweet spirals of smoke.

In turquoise water flashing fish were darting by

Dancing in between the shadow and the light

Cast by mighty trunk reflections of the great trees

Some of them a thousand years wise from what they’d seen.

 

We raised the tent and took a stroll

Along stream’s flow, we were barely clothed

And as the plenty of that place filled my soul

Her breeze whispered, “Love please remember what of mine

You must take home, please take it home.”

 

Listen to it in the heartbeat in your hand

Earthmind urges us to stand

And foment the re-entwining of our wild lands

Peaks afar, depths within. 

 

Mist of ancients settles on a little town

Up in green mountain climbs nestled ‘midst the pines.

Every season scattered across the mossy forest ground

Arrives for weeks in flush a being who teaches us.

 

As we climbed the narrow streets still slick with morning rain

The nodding fronds of plants knew just why we came.

And so they led us to a woman with eyes deep and bright

Who sold us star children wrapped in a banana leaf tight.

 

The children opened up the gates to higher ground,

My mind split asunder, held in awe at the wonder.

And as the night rain drummed a rhythm on our roof of tin

The pulsing waterfalls of wisdom spoke to me, and me, I listened.

 

“Open your heart, take a stroll along earth’s flow.

It’s time you know that you are not separate from the elder soul

And her destruction it must be countered

So keep this sacred promise to her.”

 

Listen to it in the heartbeat in your hand

Earthmind urges us to stand

And foment the re-entwining of our wild lands

Peaks afar, depths within.

 Child Inside

As through the years I've wandered

I was a compost coyote, nothing squandered

One day while turning over the pile

I saw myself, five years old, he made me smile, then he said,

"Upon your self-seas younger your nets brimmed with desire

let's recast and reconjure the child inside."

 

A cold business wind leaves us just skin and bone

Where did the human inside of us go? Where is our child roaming?

Honey, come back home, baby come on back home.

 

My child, what have they done to you?

Don't let their studied tones and schooling fool you

In the judge's chamber the good cop grins

bad cop has his trigger finger ready if you won't go in… but don't go in.

 

Cause there's a priest-class trespass in us, too

until we feel either guilty for not doing it

or guilty if we do… but that’s enough now.

The child jumped the fence at the end of the track

now he's laughing, running down the deer paths, he won't look back.

 

The child he stoops to wonder

moths flutter soundless in the jade-shade thunder

through the underbrush he's porpoise plunging

heart is an autumn orchard ripe with wanting...

 

To climb that silver ladder

and taste the grapes that hang there

bats in the lavender air

moon rising high.

The tree shadows reach towards wash of stars in the sky

river deltas of veins flowing wide

let's fly down the zip line

the shock and splash delight, that's where yr child resides.

 

A cold business wind tries to leave us just skin and bone

but I stopped listening a long time ago

cause now I see where my child's roaming

honey, we should go

baby, come on let's go out to meet him.

 Jim The Company Man

Jim the company man, he never spoke too much

40 years at the mill, breathing in steel dust

Until his back was bent and his eyes were dim

And then his heart went out, and there went poor Jim.

 

The day Jim was born the sky was gun steel grey

His mama kissed his brow, his daddy knelt right down to pray

he said “Lord please keep this child in your care, may he never go astray”,

“I worked hard my whole damn life, and by the time he’s grown he’ll do the same.”

 

Jimmy went to school, he learned to be on time

He followed most the rules, a well-mannered mind.

On his graduation day the steel rep came dressed up in a suit and tie.

That June Jim punched his first card and found a place working on the steel line.

 

Jim would rise up sore in the predawn gloom

Think of his bills and his wife and kids

Sleeping right up there in their room.

But then he’d sigh and turn to go 

just like he’d done a thousand times.  Another long day spent,

Another piece of Jimmy dies.

 

You wage slave enough and you’ll finally see

Jim is everyone, he’s you and me.

So remember before you lease a gold tomorrow for the rest of your todays,

That Jim worked his whole damn life 

and by the time he died, he still hadn’t paid.

Jim the company man, he never spoke too much

40 years at the mill, breathing in steel dust

Until his back was bent and his eyes were dim

And then his heart went out, and there went poor Jim.

 El Coyote Canta

El coyote canta y no sabemos por qué

Si el mundo está muerto con tanto progreso humano

¿Por qué canta el coyote?

Que cante el coyote,

Que con su canto nos enseñe.

Llegó el granjero con su trampa y la armó

Porque oye y no sabe por qué canta el coyote.


Que cante el coyote,

Que con su canto nos enseñe.

 Better World

There’s a better world a’coming

I’m not walking there, I’m running

All the pain in this whole world can’t hold it in,

Her beauty’s staggering.

There’s a better world a’coming

The capitalists think we’re done in

But this is the great awakening

We’re going to break through in the end.

There’s a better world a’coming

Where no policemen will be allowed in

Where in millions of communities we will gather around

To sing and dance like children.

We will take back our streets and buildings

The owners will shall dispossess them

And to each an equal share of the riches now

‘cause we have worked enough for them.

My friend, I know you’ve had a hard life

You work like a mule just to get by

This is the end of your tortuous twilight

Cause we are bound to see dawn’s light.

I know so many people who want to live free

Free is the way us the people will be

There’s dew on the grass by the side of the road

Morning is coming now, it’s time to go.

There’s a better world a’coming

The capitalists think we’re done in

But this is the great awakening

We’re going to break through in the end.