Cargo Pants Man

Dawn split heaven from earth 
this morning 
as a long-shadowed figure 
walked toward me 
silhouetted by the rising sun  

cargo pants man 
greeted me with a smile 
he with knapsack filled with tools 
to record the mysteries 
of prehistoric desert peoples 
a laptop to capture thoughts
a Nikon to record burnt fire rings 

a Clovis Point 
would be the jackpot 
he said 
in his quest to imagine rituals 
and ceremonies 
that excited his speech 
in a mysterious sort of way 

his excitement suddenly 
turned to sobriety 
when I told of my quest 
to imagine 
this fellow called Jesus
he too 
from a desert clime 

seated atop large boulders 
he told tales 
of Anasazi 
and Hohokam 
and Mogollon 

and I shared 
my tuna sandwich 
when he unexpectedly 
cracked a smile 

then I told him 
I imagined Jesus 
wearing a pair 
of cargo pants 
just like his

the smile disappeared
as he reached 
into his knapsack
and produced 
a large arrowhead
and handed it 
to me

saying

I 
prefer 
real
things.

Hunters and Gatherers II

With twine we bind   
all that we find   
to later dine   
on our feast   
of memories.

FIRE

The F leans
against the I
a tepee
when R
then E
ignite
a fire
that leaps
to life
when cried
out loud
some panic
while others
fall dead
to just
the sound
of
a single
word.

Words and Apples

I imagine
the human brain
evolved into a mind
when words
became as real
as an apple
in hand.

We Journey

With memories
we journey
through space
and time
as if
past
and future
were naturally so.

Imagining Nature

Can I imagine
rain drops
striking my face
or a wind
that attempts
to blow me away
or thunder
that gets
my attention
or cold
that sets
my teeth chattering
or a stillness
that quiets
even my thoughts
or sun rays
that bleach
white bones
that once
imagined
it all?

Two Generations

See? See?
Isn't that enough
to do?
To look and muse
about the wonder
of it all?
I want more
to do
than to
merely look
and see
when I can
make
things
happen
in interaction
talk and listen
read and write
cause and effect
communicate
my world
is more
much more
and it happens
right now
again
and
again.

One More Miracle

The paradox
of gathered knowledge
is that
former miracles
become
common knowledge
so abundant
that one cannot count
so widespread
that one cannot grasp

stars, cells, atoms, time,
evolution, water, eclipses,
DNA, metamorphosis

yet the mind
has room enough
for one
more
miracle.

Think It Real

Forever change
neither good
nor bad
locked in time
and space
mind too
tries to
halt time
grasp space
just long enough
to
think
it
real.

I Think

And inside the mind
hidden among the memories
and behind the facts
were bits and pieces
of the soul
and if one looked hard
one could catch glimpses
of feelings and beauty
truth and love
curiosity and insight
compassion and imagination
integrity and emotion
the mind claimed it's own
yet when asked
to explain
the essence of the soul
the mind could but say
I think.

Loss for Words

He was at a loss for words
yet in his pocket he had
the entire alphabet
more than enough
to say everything
that has ever
been said.

To the Point

If we look close enough
we come to a point
where matter dissolves
and the best
we can come up with
is point
without matter
yet in this infinitely tiny world
we can pluck one
a quark
and attempt to grasp
that inside our very cells
inside the atoms
that compose those very cells
are quarks
and stars are composed
of quarks
air is composed
of quarks
you and I are composed
of quarks
rocks and mountains
and bears and wolves
and whales and turnips
and automobiles
are composed
of quarks
the many
in oneness
did God created?

Meditating Upon Forever Change

Sometimes deep into the night
deep into the desert
with but the canopy of stars above 
and a meandering breeze 
that seems to come and go 
as it pleases
and a kind of darkness below 
a circular horizon that stuns the eyes
and tiny sounds about
some familiar 
some strangers
and seated atop gritty sand 
with still warmth from the long departed sun
new smells tickle the nose
and the body slowly finds an ease 
and seems held upright 
by that breeze
and the mind
oh the mind
wants to take it all in 
as the senses grow bold 
and bolder
what was once ordinary 
becomes extraordinary
then the mind lets go
the voice 
in the brain 
is dumbstruck
and what was thought 
to be stillness 
suddenly becomes 
forever change
and in the blink of a blind eye 
the entire universe 
slips into 
that silent mind.

Flooding Forth

That 'I'
which experiences
and acts
and thinks

that 'self' which is forever
dwelling upon itself

like Adam at the very moment
of self realization
when the 'I' came
flooding forth

a river
a lake
an ocean
that separated Adam
from innocence

humanity now all alone
with but an inner monologue
in stead.

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.