Photo / Emiel Molenaar
​We are sedated by the rushing about, snapping-twigs-beneath-soles, hurry-on-hurry-up-pretzel-dance 

Until

A luminous bow of moonlight arcs above the marigolds and eggplants at midnight while naked toes wiggle in the grass

We wake up from a spectral dream so real, we can no longer deny the existence of multiple dimensions

The lightning strike of grief commands our body to conduct an ancient storm and in the aftermath of fury we hum something familiar, something golden 

No longer can we click our clock tongue or mutter about the pace of things, the running out of an entity that is real and not real 
That is only meant to direct our attention to a deeper void, a deathless field 
​
Once the thunderous truth of impermanence careens in front of false vigilance to scatter us, we will never return entirely to forgetting
We will wander onward, as shapes in space dissolve
As minutes find the holy moment 
As the arrow’s sharpened presence, spears our timeless name

I love his legs at night
roots curved between my empty spaces
toes sliding along soles
snakes hungry and delighted

Night's tongue, a morse code of loving
our skin consumed with breathing
as it crosses through the dream 

His strong calf meets the backside of my knee
flicker wrist and eyelash

In the morning mouths will open
cradled words upon our palms 

Photo / Verne Ho
We wait for the words, I'm sorry
So expectant, we forget the goal:
For light to pour forth from the eyes of our children
A brilliant spear of sun

Preoccupied with ego, the fear of ego, the eradication of ego
We walk around collecting sorry from the mouths of our babies like rare stamps
We take countless apologies as proof of responsibility
We steal them like pebbles from a rushing river shore and seal them in glass jars
Then we wonder at the weight of burden, when it slopes the shoulders and lowers the gaze

We wonder, how do we summon their self worth from the depth of innocence, how do we sing to their ancient radiance?

Shatter the jars, I say
Disavow your collection
Let each sorry flutter out an open lid and join the dancing elements

Look into the child's eyes and offer gratitude
Model the ability to respond with reverence
So that slowly, the child learns a sense of weightless being, a connectedness as infinite as ocean waves

Through this shared breath, the world exhales
the distraction evaporates
the realization that we do not owe each other anything, that we are simply blessed, deeply blessed,
to be together, 
it sets the wild love free

We need their wild love

Photo / Amy Treasure
There is not much we have to do and yet it is 
everything

All days we walk on earth, we hold the thin, sharp blade of infinity and impermanence in our palms and bleed willingly 

In the face of thundering pain and injustice, we carve our beloved names into the sky

Through cackling despair, we gaze toward the burning flame of Love, loving itself backwards

We welcome the panic of enormous mystery like a lost sister and call her softly home

There is not much we have to do and yet it is this thing that forges magic  

When paradox asks for our attention,
we offer it togetherness 

Again and again and again

Then slowly, with the simmering joy of rain reviving dust,
we accept the human condition
we humble ourselves - reverent flowers in the wind
we come to trust the way seed seeks light
and never ceases

Photo / Trung Pham Quoc 
Gray mist blooms flower wind
Dark tree whistles green
Green rumbles hum-like and crazy

My belly warm with coffee, taste sweet traces

Shimmer clouds roam nomadic
Rising steam of silence lassos sun

Light break

We are cut open
Day into night

Cat body curls, I name the branches
Resolutions of supple conviction

Let’s write poems each day for the rest of our lives

Let’s learn the infinite language of kindness and speak it willingly, so that every person we meet hears the chime of a great Love-Story

Photo / Mike Labrum
When the fingers won't touch, how do I make myself into a prayer?

I gather breath like an invisible blanket

I say the name of a friend out loud even if they're nowhere near me

I become innocence, looking wondrously upon each detail, expecting nothing and welcoming miracles

When my palms won't meet in the center where skin is soft, how do I turn the minutes inside out until there is only gratitude - a fiery hymn
Until there is only joy - an electric mantra

I take out the I

Exhale - folds of the blanket unfurl

Warmth spreads across the coldness between what once was me and now is everything

Photo / Wyatt Ryan
What does gratitude feel like? 
I ask in whispers, head bowed, tea cup next to knee, September light making kind words of trees

What does gratitude feel like? 
I plea and then I pause
My belly tight
Untighten
My lungs
stiff
Unstiffen

What does gratitude feel like?
I worship the co-existence of all this star cluster
I worship the smashed together me-ness 
The inside that is everything
The voices of no and the voices of yes

What does gratitude feel like?
Like the breathing of someone I love
Knowing they are near
Knowing they are far
Knowing they are everywhere

What does gratitdue feel like? 
A graceful wind that becomes everything
That stirs the grasses
That sings the flowers
That stings my heart and swells me up

What does gratitude feel like?
The release of my exhale
The remembrance of my perfection
The loving of my forgetfulness
The willingness to do it again and again

What does gratitude feel like?
Wordless

Photo / Andrea Reiman 
The ocean wants to come in
So let her
The moon is sinking teeth into the chest that guards your heart
Make yourself raw
Make yourself open
Let your memories be known
The sun wants to bow down beside you

So let him
Wind whispers knowing into silk around your body 
Make yourself light weight
Make yourself honest
Know you are mortal

The earth wants to come in
So let her
Endless roots spider web your legs
Make yourself sturdy
Make yourself supple
Chant out loud your crazy thirst for growth
​
The other wants to come in
So let them
A shadow stalks your winding path
Make yourself willing
Make yourself human
Remember every word you know for love

Photo / Bryan Minear
Fundamental strength is waiting patiently for you to melt and be luminous
Silk sky is listening for your quiet descent into soul

In the soundless song do you sing it? 

Stretching darkness and the moon remains

The void is not a void
A door cracks open
and everything remembers