To Make a Poem Live

Athens, Georgia

June 14, 2011; revised January 6, 2015

A million poems that might be made,

and each one phrased a million ways  –

but one is said, the others dead

and never more than fleeting thoughts

that twitter past mind’s eye half read

and gone, but one that lingers on

defines the mind that gives it life.

In minds there lurk a million states

expressing thought a trillion ways –

within each moment one congeals,

the others hover not yet real

left hanging from a golden thread

that loops through mind outside of time

to bind the poems we thought were dead.

The hand that writes a poem down

and makes it real outside the mind,

a concrete form that’s fossilized

in frozen death until it’s said

aloud or read by kindred souls,

in thought to make the poem live

and resurrect my mind from thread –

A million lines that I might write

all fight for life outside my head

to die and rise when thought anew –

the few I love and bring to life,

I gently leave their fate to you

for that, dear soul, is why I write, 

that song is why I live.

To Heal the World - Mat Meditation 2

For Charlotte Johnston, Yoga Instructor

Athens, Georgia

May 30, 2011

The world is too much with you now I see

the tension tracing pathways down your spine

and monkey chatter chasing through your mind,

but let them be, come stretch with me, now breathe.

And in the mindfulness of breath to break

through form if form constrains, to break

down form if form requires;

to let form conform

in nature’s way

to cleansing

breath just

breathe.

Through cadence of your breath begin to feel

the hush of peace that permeates a place

in the calm embrace of natural grace

your life’s a vast cathedral space made real.

Breathe

deep breath,

drawing breath

from the stillness

let yourself become

the lightest touch of grace

a piercing shaft of light through space

that brightens shadows cast across all paths.

While pressing worlds of pain will always be,

those spacious depths of breath will frame a life

for quiet mind to cleanse our world of strife.

For dreams to be, first stretch with me, now breathe.

see also Mat Meditation 1

To Heal the World - Mat Meditation 1

For Charlotte Johnston,  Yoga Instructor

Athens, Georgia

May 23, 2011

The world is more than we perceive,

in hidden ways, beyond our sight.

Relax now, let it go, just breathe.

Though oceans weep and biomes grieve

and groan beneath our growing might,

this world’s much more than we perceive.

We stretch our bodies to conceive

and kindle minds that yearn for right.

Relax now, let thought go, just breathe.

The sharpened mind is best ensheathed

in harmony, deflecting fight.

Such mind is more than we perceive.

Our healthy minds and bodies weave

a gracious soul that seeks pure light.

Release love, let it grow, just breathe.

This soul transcends what we believe,

to heal the world – its wild delight.

You are much more than you perceive:

Rejoice! Now let it go, just breathe.

see also Mat Meditation 2