A Blade of Grass

But then I stopped
stooped and plucked a blade of grass
and it was this blade of grass 
that I sought to ponder
but then it struck me
that this too 
was too much for me to grasp. 

A single blade of grass? 
I marveled at its greenness
then held it up to the sky 
and with the bright sunlight behind
could see the individual cells. 

Ah, I thought, perhaps I can grasp 
just one cell 
of this singular blade of grass. 

But no, this too seemed too much 
for my mind to apprehend
for even upon close inspection
this green island in a sea of islands
was a vessel of enormous complexity. 

Botany 101 taught me this. 

This so tiny cell 
was in fact 
a dynamic powerhouse
a manufacturing plant
a converter of mystical rays of sun 
into food for growth. 

Ah, the enormity of it all
I thought
within this single cell 
were more and more realms of wonder,
all the way to the carbon atoms 
and protons 
and the very 
very tiny quarks. 

And there it was
held between my thumb 
and forefinger
but now not dynamic life
but a plucked blade of grass 
dying a quick death. 

Bless even you blade of grass
an enormously complex creation 
a fingerprint from the hands of God 
yes
a beauty of which I will not 
soon forget.

Forgive me.

Light

The moment 
when light turns to dark
inside our brain 
imagined light 
then comes to life. 

Thoughts are ever evolving 
expressions that can morph 
from this to that 
in a nanosecond
then disappear in a blink
to might or might not 
ever surface again
while words are thoughts expressed
thoughts solidified
in that they take on a life 
apart from the solitary mind
and become part 
of the collective mind
with dictionaries as arbitrators 
when the collective disagree 
on a once solid word 
that begins crumbling 
into ambiguity.

I'm out the door 
and with mindless resolve
point myself in the dark
toward the east
toward the crescendo 
of lightness 
that will halt me in my tracks 
when night becomes day
like  marching toward an idea
an idea that me 
and the sun 
and the earth
for one brief moment
have reached an invisible point 
a point only imagined 
in my mind
a point in time 
and space
when eyes blinded for want 
of what feeds them 
are suddenly fed 

daybreak 

photons flood the landscape 
and my eyes 
are fed! 

Oh so ordinary

Oh so ordinary  
is a hot summer night  
when the whirl of a fan  
is music in the dark  
accompanying   
croaking frogs  
in the distance  
oh so ordinary  
is waking to a glowing  
herald of break of day  
and the frogs   
now deep asleep  
and quiet  
oh so ordinary  
an electric coffee pot  
percolating   
as a toilet is flushed  
and a faucet lets go  
cool morning water  
oh so ordinary  
a day goes by  
in a rush  
while someone  
in a market
stacks oranges  
and red apples  
and peaches  
and apricots   
in perfect rows  
oh so ordinary  
that someone  
pushes the wheelchairs  
and lines them in  
a large room  
perfect rows  
and there they sit  
oh so ordinary  
memories of  
a seasick morning  
on a day called D-Day  
and another of  
a train station farewell  
and that was that  
he never returned  
and another  
of sawing two by fours  
under a cloudless blue sky  
in a backyard   
of a tiny two bedroom house  
in East L.A.  
and another of  
a wedding day in 1942  
with just a week   
before that train farewell   
and I still feel the rice  
a handful my brother threw  
as if it were yesterday  
and another of  
peeling an orange  
near a stream  
in the mountains  
in that beautiful place that  
just right now  
I don't seem  
to recall  
but I can still  
taste  
that orange.

Time and Place

How unwieldy
time and place
never together
but for a blink of an eye
to grasp time
this very moment
in Ireland and Brazil
and inside an atom
and across the starry sky
this very moment
takes hands larger
then the entire universe
yet place
this place
without moment
is but a way station
for a gathering of atoms
like a pew in
St. Catherine
in Ventry
where countless souls
in this very place
over time
live the same space
yet only
one
at a time.

Who we are

We name
the unnameable
we describe
the indescribable
we apply attributes
to that which attributes
cannot be applied
so that our minds
can create words
like heart
soul
love
to imagine
who
we
are.

Vexing Word

Vexing words
with  hammer in one hand 
and tongs in the other
gripping another vexing word
another of those misformed words 
that needs but the smite of my hammer 
to enform it to its should be shape
and smite I do
and to my amazement 
that thought to be iron-like word
that word that in my mind had but one shape
yielded to my smite
not like red-hot iron
but like clay
willing
if not eager
to mold to my mind
or to any mind
and assume a new guise
for that was its soul
to mean whatever like-minded minds 
wanted it to mean
and always ready to change
from this to that
and not from hammer beats 
but from minds
minds that are ever reshaping the world
with its words.