scattered

if I could only
focus long enough, I could
watch blossoms expand

early days

I like the early days
of budding spring when blooms
are hidden splashed random

inconstant April

inconstant April

30 to 80 and back

one last snow again?

Prometheus

• Creator
• Future Seer
• Present Doer
• Fire Bringer
• Savior of Man
• Defier of Gods
• Consequence Sufferer
• Helper Even In Chains
• First Civil Rights Activist?

know the names

It seems a minor
miracle to know the names
of flowering things.

nature laughs at me again

darn nature just keeps
pooping on everything
so it's hard to commune

Spring creeps (I think I like the other one better)

spring creeps in earnest
summer shade is replacing
shadows once again

is hope like this?

the way the tree appears
completely without life
today but could sprout buds
tomorrow if you wait

return of shade

tree-cast bone shadows

grow into shade once again

spring comes with intent

will spring come to my tree this year

lonely sound 

of bare tree

branches

in constant

restless 

motion

whacking

each other

like children

left in the back 

seat too long

golden

for Liz

haze of green new growth
outlining Mississippi
River banks: golden

when it is enough (exercise and chronic pain)

Ask yourself,

"Is is enough?"

and if you think

"I could do more,"

stop before 

it is too much.

view from the deck floor

plane flies close to the moon

birds and frogs check in

summer breeze rattles winter 

bare bones of trees

unencumbered by new growth

clouds drift by at different

speeds at different heights

tiny bugs dance between me 

and the sky      the sun sets

with little fanfare and the moon

grows brighter

can anyone 

ever do just 

one thing

?

winter bare bones

breeze whispers summer
while rattling the winter
bare bones of my tree

four turtles

heads stretched up
four turtles bask
on a log

From Jonathan to David on His Birthday (or vice versa)

unexpected gift
friend whose soul is knit with mine
many happy walks

when the poem disappears, write another

internet ate the
turtles but frogs are croaking
nothing is wasted

I will miss all the windows

wrestle with SharePoint
mutter take this you sons of
pixels watch spring light

walking in the sun

spring conversation

you can go very far in

just 30 minutes

bittersweet

we watch buds sprout past

one dead leaf that won't let go

spring is bittersweet

treasured

every warm day
in April should be treasured
frost comes tomorrow

how do you look away

Seasonal Clearance!

Condensation Closeout!

End of Season Sale on Snow!

Everything Must Go!

The sky is using

all remaining

winter inventory 

today!

Small, hard, pellet snow, check!
Medium, dry, shaken snow globe snow, check!
Medium, fluffy, sedately swirling snow, check!
Big, wet, sloppy snow, check!

How do you look away from this 

beautiful spring chaos?

the first snow (April 8)

tiny hard styrofoam pellet snow 

tapping down en masse

shows through darkened glass 

as frantic darker grey on gray

and piles up in the grass

when living in the darkness

She talks about how there is no
faith tradition for evangelicals
to follow in the times when one
is living in the dark.  True.
Disciplines and rituals aren't
for evangelicals.  Emotions are more
important and true than
"smells and bells", and where
does that leave those
deep in dark depression
who feel
nothing?
Nowhere
alone.
False.  This
is why it's important to tell true stories
of our times in the darkness,
for truth is light and hope, and hope
in the midst of darkness is
sometimes the only
gift of love we
can give
each other.

Wondering how much sleep will be enough

How many nights of better sleep will be 

enough to make up for eleven years of 

not enough?  How many nights will my 

brain take to reset and my body to heal 

and finally 

feel rested?

what's that sound?

Stop to listen to
tip tap of tiny hail
April showers, go!

not lost yet

snow floating past buds
on winter bare trees whispers
we have not lost yet

virga

we watch through windows
rain falls from clouds far away
on someone else's heads?

Now I Walk in Beauty

plants are waking up
sending out shoots and budding
we walk in new life

reasons for the quest

to sleep, perchance to dream

and to remember dreams,

to remember anything at all

really, to clear out some of this

fog, to be able to choose to live

in the moment instead of being

reduced to it, to see more clearly

and be present more fully, to

be able to cope and not cry all

the time over nothing and every

thing, to be part of community

to serve instead of being served

or hiding or running and stumbling

to be more fully awake to the

world as the seasons turn and I

grow older with the world because

even though it's scary and possibly

dangerous, maybe this time it will

work, and I can begin to heal if

I do not give up and lose all hope