ROBIN
Robin is a pelican
she flies with perfect grace
swims with perfect grace
moves with perfect grace
Pelicans swim with Robin as a sister
pelicans are very old and wise
they know a pelican
can be a beautiful woman
Humans are not so wise
but there is a way to know
if a beautiful woman is a pelican
Robin is a pelican
when she opens to feed you
you can taste her heart
FEEDING THE SOUL AT VARGOS
(for Debbie)
The soul is fed in many ways
Walking
on a sunny Easter Sunday
in Vargos gardens with the one you love
Marveling as peacocks surround us
and salute that love
Meeting by chance
your surgeon ally in the cancer fight
Sitting by the window
breaking bread in gratitude for it all
DODO BIRD
The Dodo bird used to live on
Mauritius island in the Indian Ocean
just a little bit east of the African coast
Being too big and dumb
to move fast, hide well, or taste bad
the Dodo did not survive human contact
Shortly after the Dodo became extinct
all the large beautiful trees on the island
were seen to be heading for extinction as well
You see the trees dropped their nuts
and the Dodo birds ate those nuts
and they digested those nuts
and fertilized those nuts
And they dropped those nuts
and only then could they germinate
and grow into those big beautiful trees
And those trees were the only homes
for hundreds of kinds of birds and bugs
and moss and a thousand living things
The world is a grain of sand you know
and sometimes that whole world can depend
on the shit of a Dodo
SALMON LEAPING
In the very center of New Brunswick
Half way between the equator
and the north pole
Half way up the river Mirimichi
Half way between the spawning grounds and
the sea the salmon stop to rest in quiet pools
As you watch, one or two or three
will leap high above the water, twist in the
air and splash down again
I asked the best guide on the river
and the best outfitter too
Why do they jump like that?
They said nobody knew
I suspect it’s all part of something simple
that has always been true
There’s just a lot of joy in doing
what you were born to do
DANCING THE DREAMING
Aborigines on an Austin stage
Dancing the dreaming
But something’s wrong
They dance in stage lines not sacred circles
Men and women dancing together
Even I know that’s not how they did it
My Aussie friend points out that they have
no scars of initiation
Drug store cowboys
in five and dime dream time
The phoniness bothers me for quite a while
They are not really doing the sacred songs
They probably don’t even know the sacred songs
Of course if they did they wouldn’t be singing
them for us
On a Texas stage
in five and dime dream time
And yet there is something happening
below the surface
that starts to pull me in
The didgeree-do is made from a real tree
The circular breathing to blow it is there
strong and free
Something real is rising through it all
Something I don’t understand
Something they don’t even understand
If you listen real close you can hear it
below and through and beyond it all
Fifty thousand years of DNA singing
THE PANTHER
The panther is full of light
which can only be seen
when he moves, or looks into your eyes
Or by those who can see in the dark
If it were not so, the blind could see … and kill him
SEEDS
(or Austin International Poetry Festival)
Birds seed lakes
flying with fish roe
between each muddy toe
Spiking
each pond with pike
and smaller fish that pike like
The poets from England were here last year
including Jay, and bearded imp John Row
carrying seeds between each muddy toe
CANDLE LAKE
Northern Dawn
Soft Haiku Sky
Seven Loons Float By
SANTA BARBARA ‘89
In a seaside park
the homeless camped
and breathed the rich air
and slept beneath strong arms
of living things that seemed to care
And the people in million dollar homes
were deeply touched by this sad sight
they said “it isn’t right, it isn’t right”
“We’ll show you that we have
some values in our town”
So they had
the trees
cut down.
ALBERTA AIR
(a song still waiting for the music)
Alberta air, Alberta air
You’ve gotta breathe
that good Alberta air
It rolls in over the mountains
it rolls out over the plains
it smells of age old glaciers
and brand new gentle rains
It’ll cleanse your heart of worries
and wash your soul of pains
for there’s a world of love and kindness there
feel it blowing through your hair
Alberta air, Alberta air