Grandmother waits for me, tall cliff,
deep cave, she knows i belong inside
with the phoenix fire and the crystal bones.

i felt like i had gotten it all wrong,
i had lockered my voice on the pretty
boy express, he had wrinkled hands
so i thought he was known ~
he loved me,
he loved me to death.

i wanted to remember how to breathe ~
i had to tear open my neck so i could
re-seed the memory ~

"how do you do?"

we are fragments inside this winged
angel design, here is my voice, here
is my echo prize ~ she binds the wounds,
she sings me into the sweet sleep ~
slip under, go so deep you come out
into a new daylight, it is just on the other side.

I am the doe, I am the eagle.
I am the dove, I am the snake.
hold me in both sides of your mind,
and with careful volcano blow
you will start to get the idea,

Divine.

i was gliding on winter wings, over the
steaming water of clear, hot springs ~
i saw the alligators and i forgot how
to fly, i slogged along on top of their
backs, i tiptoed along their danger
sides, until i found my way out, - finding
the way ~ gulping breath, tree top air.

i am standing in the new day ~ cardinal
song to greet me, the taloned one brought
me a skeleton key story ~ karma comes
and goes, she knows some things even i
don't, her price is fair if not easy ~

you must forgive all the debts, every one ~

then she will make sure they are all
collected, in full and with interest ~
go ahead, and call her a bitch ~ you
called me a whore ~ and i am still
standing, I am still me inside of me ~

red woman shimmering in the full
moon light ~ she is claiming her
children, she is calling them home.

we move inside the mountain, my
lineage hangs out in spiral shine,
they are all inside my mind, they
are inside my bones, etched deep,
walking in between the worlds ~

if you are looking for me,
you will find me in the garden,
tree root dreaming

on these nights when I
forget how to sleep,
I light the candles
one, two, three

the star shine looks
down on me; they
love me ~ bare-bone
thin and they want to
feed me

one week ago, I
woke up to a cold
morning, and saw
the doe in the garden,
she stood in soft solidarity
beside Magdalene

my life is full of these
dreams
that are not
dreams

tears fill my eyes and
my heart breaks open
it is the honey bee
treasure
it is the butterfly
medicine

it fills in the holes
left by the shattered
glass

she looks at me, she
knows the name within
my name - my feet have
been charged, they
know the way

so you and I, take
the full moon walk,
and drink owlish wine
out of clay cups ~

we laugh until we cry,
tender hands to draw
closed the tears ~ it
is the sweetest, safest
place to look at the little
girl's sad, hopeful face ~

I have listened, and pulled
out the quiet night tune ~
let's slip out of these heart
break boots, and see what
we can do . . . .

hey, I really like . . .
I really like your yellow
t-r-u-c-k.

I have a basket full of mason jars
and dandelion wine ~

wanna sneak off
and pretend
to get
d-r-u-n-k?

you know I like to take it real slow ~
on your mark, get set, ready . . .

~

I have this little trunk
full of tiny, lost things ~
all these lonely keys ~

they never did find a lock ~
what the fuck is that all about?

I have a history of
falling for demons and
monks - the sparking
edges of a pretty and
sick mind ~ do you mind?

wanna make a bet?

hand me the black book,
been there and back,
riveted by your hook ~

riveted by my hooking ~

can't wait to see how you
make the catch,

can't wait to see how you
throw it back.

every night, when I look
out my window, there
is a bright light moving
from the south to the north ~

it disappears and then begins
its spiral trajectory once again ~

it is just something i know ~

i am sitting on an outcropping
of limestone looking over
the universe lake ~ all water
moves, with slow undulation or
with hurried tripping
toward the sea

i watch the heron, fly
by, three times ~
twice alone, the last
time, not

it is the echo heart
it is the echo start

pebbles in the mind,
ripple reflection, i
have heard stories
about this mirror
behind my eyes

come in closer,
closer, whisper
words, i want to
see ~

i couldn't ask, i
wouldn't have known
how, but somehow
it was just given
to me ~

i told him
i told him about the shatter
i told him about the shattered glass
and he said
it was
okay

laughter is peeling off the wallpaper ~
hold my hand across these snowy miles ~
picking lemon peels off the floor of my
survival ~ kissing lips that are all salt and
sugar ~ tick tock time, hour glass sand ~
we are beach bound and bouncing off
the clouds ~ your hand at the small of my
back and I try to breathe, in then out ~

"Wait until spring . . . "

he sends me pennies in paper envelopes,
skipping across the blue sky days ~
he glues them, tails down onto
green glass buttons ~ he tells me I can
wear my yellow slip or not because he doesn't
really mind, one way or the other ~

I am busy in the orchard, the medicine
pulses through my veins, I am almost
bloodless but that will change with the
warming of the days, I know now to never
kiss a vampire on the neck ~ that is more
knowledge than I had before so that is
something, right?   I still shine inside my
mind, it takes more than some broken teeth
to destroy my lemonade life ~

I am waking up with the truth
of the trees ~ I am me, inside of me, anyone else
who comes inside of me is a guest, and they are to
honor me and mine ~ and I will know how to offer
them the same on silver platter nights ~ but it will
wait, in the cocoon stillness, until the days strike
a balance between the black and the white ~

wait, wait ~ lips poised over lips ~ I will show
you why the sun flares towards the wax and the
wane of the moon ~ send me your morning word
and I will crochet you a small pocket poem ~ it
will keep you warm on cold nights, it will pour
sweetness into your dreams ~ lay it on the floor
and it will fill your room with my voice ~
tonight the moon will hang it all in the balance,
inspiring us toward the coming vision dream,
when winter's ghost wraps around the bones of spring.

it was a long time in
the broken heart cage -
it was a too long good-bye
and a welcome hurricane -
she took the quiet road home -
she gave back the passion kiss -

stumble, tumble through all
those leaves turning - she
was meditating on the green
promise of eternal spring -
holding whispering bones in
her wooden bowls - thinking
mostly of angels and sprites -
she has learned to listen to the
wounds, she will get it right ~

he was quiet in his bare feet -
he knows to remove his boots
when entering the garden home -
he was slipsy, tricksy sweet -
and every day he named a new
color for her - laughing she
found her dancing tune hiding
within his gowlden words -

where others left scars,
he left butterfly kisses -
where others left tears,
he planted laughing flowers -
where others left bruises,
he whispered lemon trees -
where others laid down lies,
he laid out a tea party for two -

"are you ready to go down the
rabbit hole?"

and which pill, my dear?  shall
we be tall or small?

he wraps me in winding words,
lulls me to sleep with incoherent
stories ~ i always wanted to hang
with the
dream king ~

hey, darlin,
the night is soft, soft and
dark but for the light, swilvery moon ~

shush, hush your mind, and fall quietly
into the sweet dreaming ~