But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of the light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. – 1 Thess 5:4-5

I am so happy to say that four of my new poems will be published in the Fall issue of Nine Mile Magazine <—-click to go to site.

I am writing again.

Here’s one of the four:

Fountains and Shadows

You seek comfort, I know, but
your mother’s gone

and her house, a tiny widow’s
cottage, hides in a bed

of bittersweet, rosemary,
and the slight shadow

of a passing crow.

Oh, how this house
would glow every morning.

When you say good bye
the sun is up and flocks

of quiet birds cloud the sky.

And this is where our road turns,
by the lake like a mirage

under an autumn sky,
fish so hungry they’re

frenzied following a spray
of  mayflies, where once you said

Poppy, Poppy look!
It’s a fountain of a day.

This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown. ~ Walt Whitman

The country that is nowhere is the real home. – Thomas Merton, journal, May 30, 1968

Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
so that a flood of waters may cover you?

(no)
(But God can)

Pray for a tough instructor
to hear and act and stay within you.
We have been busy accumulating solace.
Make us afraid of how we were.

– Rumi