Meteor Shower

When the embers
of this life are glowing
in the space between
ribs near the heart;

hard wood and wool
doing their best work
to warm us,

let the universe write a letter
to the evening sky,
bright with the flashes of stars

reminding the night to let go
of grasping
and settle, relaxed
into the arms of  compassion
that guides all thoughts
embracing the ideas
that have us bound
to the impossible

and have loosed us
to find what makes us
whole.

Next Time

The lead of my thoughts
swirls and flashes
like colorful fish
in a stagnant pool
of heaven.

Angels swoop
like birds of prey
and pluck ideas,
one morsel of
my humanity
at a time
from the murk
and carry 
them heavenward.

So many pieces of my soul
to scatter until next time
I am born
into a single body.

Gates of Prayer

Light this candle of peace
with conviction
and I will wait
near the altar
of that stillness,

a novitiate
with the heart
of a convert
waiting to enter
the safe gates of prayer;

waiting for this convent
of solitude
to protect me
from the fires
that rage at the core
of who I am becoming.

Prayer

This wicked heart
that holds you away, Lord,

it betrays my true self,
the woman I have
always wanted to be,

saddled like a pack animal
with the burdens
of common trauma
of broken cups, broken hearts,
and broken promises

and longs to heal the selfishness of ego
that blinds me from seeing the way
you have cleared for me and  that takes me
from the joy
that I  know
in the quiet whisperings
at dawn
with you.

Pray for the sky to open
beautiful
like the petals
of a single rose
and for wisdom to shine
on my mind
so that I might melt
my frozen fear

with the kindness
of strangers
who smile
and offer
their fortune
and ask nothing
in return.

Leather Between My Teeth

This fire,

this crown of light
that glows over my body,

is all that is required.

This is the leather
between my teeth
as I give birth
to the new days
of a life

changed
and honest
as each breath
shared in the posture
of meditation
and the movement
of loving kindness.

Feast

Feast on the light of dusk
with an abundant serving of wonder
and you will see
with perfect vision
all of what might be joy.

Sealed

For the cost of a brick
I will lift my arm
high and toss a bit of dreaming
into the night sky
where the stars have begun
dancing and singing;
the memories burrowing
into the corners of my skull.

Let me write a few lines
of a poem,
or a letter,
with the seeds of words
I find by the side of the road
or that arrived

floating above us

on a simple breeze
toward the earth;
like visitors
from another galaxy

tucked in with honest postage--

news from the trail
ahead of us
and sealed
with waxy
promises.