good friday, 2017

i have been awake all night

no light          no music          no sound

sometimes you must starve the soul

let us do the stations

let us reflect

step by step, moment by moment

let us refrain

from eating

let me feed on wonder

where are the passion plays?

Oberammergau is too far

my feet and hands are bloody

i want to find another way to share the story

tell it to you for hundreds of years

entreaty or declaration

let me sit here with you

it is not good for you to be alone

i wish you were not alone

maundy thursday, 2017

near the end

or the beginning

there was a meal

full of fear

full of joy

oh, dearest friends

this is my commandment

wash one another

i would kiss your feet

every hour of

every day

we gather

as you leave

take everything with you

the bells have stopped ringing

remember me

the shape of my presence

regrets

what if i told you that

i’m sorry, but i have to go now --

there’s already too much poetry.

in the midst of grief

in the midst of grief

such beauty,

surrounded by glory

all the golden saints

watching

this ritual in another language

ornate brocade

wrapping bodies

her absence

moving through time

his wife has died -

is he aware of it?

hands curled upon his chest.

sleeping? reflecting? longing?

finding refuge

in the rhythm of song and gesture

crossing

there are many

embraces here -

the incense and the water

candles and icons

made uncomfortable

by presence

the dance of pomp

and circumstance

who are these prayers for?

the departed?

those left behind?

so strange, the body

so waxen

the singers drown out

the bells

the lists of names –

saints, family –

not alone, not abandoned,

finally home.

dirty words

i want to write dirty poems    

for you     about you     to you

i want to fill them     with four-letter words

to make you blush     or squirm     or gasp

to remind you     that we have bodies

and that bodies     have desires

and that sometimes those desires     surprise us

bodies responding to words     thoughts

let this poem stretch out     along these desires

find a way to insert itself     into the conversation

let each line whisper     into your ear

breathing softly on the heart’s     skin

the skin awaking to this     surrender

each word     entering us     embeds

the scent of encounter     and exchange

the taste of your skin     in my mouth

the weight of your body     in my mind

the wonder     of what words can do