Great Wealth
There is great wealth
in releasing
out of your life:
clothes you never wear,
unhelpful ideas,
unsatisfying work,
and unkind people
If you sit quietly
and feel love inside you
it will be easier to tell
what is missing around you,
what supports that inside peace
and what does not
bring you joy
There is great wealth
in knowing
who you are
and who you aren’t
while still
not knowing
who you may become
Surprises
Earth surprises
in flowers
never planted
in love peeking out
of unexpected places
and unfamiliar faces
in relinquished dreams
suddenly coming
to fruition
in terrible losses
that simultaneously
destroy and create
in each day folding
into the next
like Origami
in bursts of freedom
knocking down walls
and opening cages
in the quiet pauses
between each note of life,
earth surprises
All Things
Death gives this gift,
the tender ache of knowing
we hold nothing forever
and the beauty in longing,
the exquisite grace
where you once were
opens in every new laugh in the sun,
the cherishment
of flowers and friends
Everything dissolves into tomorrow,
re-lived by memory,
loved infinitely
as all things fall to ground
Mother’s Day
The earth holds the bones
of every tree that ever held
leafy children aloft
and the ashes
of every human mother
that ever nursed a babe
and the fur of every mammal
that ever carried
their young front to back
and the shells of every turtle
that ever guided
offspring to the sea
and the skins of every reptile
that ever hatched
tiny slitherlings
and the feathers of every bird
that ever nested
their brood
the earth gently holds the bones
of every child
ever created
The Gems
Thank you
to all of the gems
in life
Those that innocently
sparkle joy
at any age
The jewels mishandled,
but somehow
still shining
The unpolished natural gems
that quietly
hold no pretensions
The big and the bold
set in gold or platinum,
delighting in attention
The warm ones
that glow softly
with kindness
The precious ones
here for a short time,
their luster reflected in memory
The deep-pressed diamonds
who discover their worth
only under duress
The cold beauties,
harsh-edged
and full of pain
The clear deep stones
unwavering
in any weather
Every cut and color in creation,
each facet reflecting
under the sun
Egg
Once, the egg of the universe
cracked wide
and spilled into clusters
of planets and stars
in space
And our little blue round,
if only we held it
as tenderly
as any bird ever sheltered
her unhatched brood
Perhaps the mothering sky
waits for the day
that our hearts crack
wide open
and we all fly
Buddha’s Footprints
Follow Buddha’s footprints,
each heel to toe
pressed into stone
They will take you
further than mind allows
and body knows
They will last longer
than a life,
and no less than a heartbeat
Others have walked this way,
barely touching the earth
yet leaving deep impressions
Follow Buddha’s footprints
far enough
and there will only be your own
barely lingering
like dusty sand gently swept
into the wind
Gotta
Gotta hand it to you mothers
you can clean up poop
and pee and barf and still smile
and love your kid like
forever,
like a miraculous flower
never knowing how it will bloom
You don’t feel like you’re “babysitting,”
or having to “watch the kid,”
no, no trying on a role for you
it’s the real deal
until death and even after,
that small body full
of every hope you ever had for the future
Your mothering hands soothe the heart,
your gaze sees every bit of kid,
every fault and crack line
and loves right into the abyss
and beyond,
you mothers
gotta hand it to you
Autumn
You’ve been hiding
under the cat’s paws
and been stepped upon by many feet
yet no harm has come to you behind glass-
nothing touches your hummingbird hope
you can pretend that autumn leaves
are new spring green
but then they crackle and cackle
like old geese and the jig’s up
you really are older than you look
and time presses itself between book pages
into past stories you no longer have time for
and young people want you
to wait for them
to grow up enough to care
but you don’t have time
to wait by their water,
you have to jump
into yours and be splashed by life
with the best possible passion
because it really is autumn,
the long summer has fallen
away, far away
and winter comes
on tiger feet roaring
Used To
I’ve heard people say
you can get used to anything
if you wait long enough
like the hole in the place
where a mind once
thought like yours
or the bare spot
where a tree used to stand
smiling its fruit up
or the cold empty
where warmth once pulsed
between two friends
or the exciting ideas
that have fallen down
and can’t get up
I don’t know if it’s worse
to never get used to anything
that hurts
or to get used to the missing
when someone or something
no longer is