In the Root Cellar

Claim the curve of the Earth, the world is worth the risk.”

As women,
We have poetry in our lives.

Words like semen ejaculated from all the need of the man’s world
Held in the depths of the womb
Patiently awaiting silvery shaft of the moon
To penetrate darkness of blind night –blind sight.

Vaginal canal carrying the Milky Way
Into the world of inner space where
Adjectives in ovaries bloom,
Carried together in fallopian tube nouns,
All to the verb eggs
Waiting to be cracked
Open like the ‘crack’ of the birth of a star.

Desire, the forbidden fruit
Invites us to cravings
Hungry bellies are necessary for
Space of creation
Carved out by spoons of hungry times,
Hungry myths.

There needs to be a place of birth
There needs to be a root cellar
Cared and tended for
By long skirts and small hands,
Kept safe underneath the Earth
For futures to survive on the
Preserves of Grandmothers.

There needs to be a receptacle
For all the stories
For all the pain
For all the pleasure
For all the nothingness
In-between
The words.

Ferninand the Bull, May 2011

You came here a man on fire
Blazing heart burning the path forward
Towards falling into the abyss of longing
For love, the divine spark, the source
Of this flame;
To be reborn.

Search in the ashes for the beginning
For feathers of the Phoenix,
For missing pieces that bring wholeness in partnership.
To be honored in wholeness.

Honor me in my pieces.
Like the pieces of the sky at night
That twinkle, sparkle and shoot magic
Towards my heart and then come together
Cosmically, above my head while I sleep.

Wishes in the dark
The eye of the moon
Bring the gift back in order to gaze towards a direction.
Together, in the same direction.
Love is…says the Little Prince,
Says the man that dances on the ridge with flowers in his hands,
The beloved on his shoulder.

Such a curious gentleness of compassion through pain.
You hear it in the stories he tells,
The stories we tell.

From the place where the Goddess dwells
To the sacred, deep spaces of the ancient ones
The stories come,
The song sings,
The warrior walks.

Sometimes he walks as if he has lost something,
As if he has fallen in love.
He wanders, he wonders
About the beautiful mystery
Until—it is here, there, everywhere,
Within and without,
He smiles.

He remembers that the beloved comes
With gentleness, deep eyes and infinite time.
The beloved is all that is loved for the Give Away.

From the sense of purpose we return,
To uncertainty.
To space, wide open space--total potential.
The infinite fertile void
Where the fire meets the spark
And they dance all over again.

Born of the same circle
The same endings and beginnings
Falling in and out of love
Because nothing is permanent
Surrender is what the waves
Sing to the sky.

Sister

Sister
You keep me,
Deep inside the world.
The place where the embers are born,
Where the sparks find purpose,
Where the flame starts to dance.

You keep me,
In touch with angels.
Your arms like wings
Spread open to the winds of the world
And the turbulence of love.

You keep me,
Looking into life
With wide eyes and open heart.
Without fear of what might be seen in the dark,
Because you are there with me.

You keep me,
In your back pocket now-a-days.
A place of worn in comfort,
Sometimes forgotten, put through the wash or sat upon
But always there.

You keep me,
Longing to hear you laugh
To see you dance,
To smile,
To shine your light out to the world.

You keep me,
Dreaming of adventures
When can we play the way we once did?
Laughing out loud, big belly laughs,
Freely and without abandon.

You keep me,
Sister of mine
Forever I am yours
Whatever your needs
Wherever you are
I know it too, I feel it too
I see you too.

You keep me,
Together.
Come back together,
Take my hand
Do not fear this place
We’ll be here together
We’ll go together.

You keep me,
Sister.

JR

You live behind reflective sunglasses,
held on by creative forces and duct tape,
shielded by decorated hats,
wearing the symbols of moments
like badges from an ancient war

When I seek your eyes
I only see myself.
Distorted by the curve of plastic lenses
and doubts of my own creation,
I am left seeking

Your demeanor is one of deep currents
moving with space
watchful deliberation and
the ability to take things with you
the power to leave others behind.
On the shore,
waiting to become someone else's treasure.

In some long ago story,
when dragons needed slaying and
battlefields were not yet cemeteries,
you carried the sword.
You played the hero.

Now, in this story
the dragons have all but retreated into Middle Earth,
the swords hang over mantles and
battlefields have become historic sites and visitor centers
full of Hawaiian print shirts and camera flashes.

Now, in this story
you play games in the dark
with your own shadows
learning the art of combat, protection
the hero by your own need for rescue.

I am drawn to you
the way I am drawn to water.
Something deeper that I want
to know, to touch, to hold
if just for a moment
to treasure
to know something more about the mystery
the parts that make the whole.

Ode to Danny Z

There once lived a boy,
With red hair and a smile so coy,
Who seemed to dance through life,
Never grieving long with strife.

His vibrant energy was vast
And many a time from class and work was cast
Back out into the place he knew best as home,
The mountains under a starry dome.

Danny could always be seen with a smile
Taking time to pause for a while
Only long enough for a double heli and PBR
And then back out to shred the gnar.

He laughed with his heart
And from his light we are sad to part.
Dan lived each and every day
To the very fullest potential for play.
His thirst for adventure
Was beyond any Der Sportsman sport quencher.

Danny traveled many places
And laughed with many faces,
But his home was always here
And we will feel him forever near.
The mountains have taken him back
And although his physical presence we lack
Danny Z lives on forever
With his little elf spirit so clever
In the hearts of us all
And the mountains surrounding us so tall.

A Prayer for Marriage

I pray that your days be precious and treasured together and alone.
I pray you cherish each other as your own unique essence without judgment or assumption.
I pray you feed each other with your deepest desires and keep the self and the other in the best of health.
I pray you find freedom in your togetherness to express your truest self.
I pray you venture together with the courage to pay attention.
I pray you risk enough to always tell the truth.
I pray for full belly, snorting laughter and for a safe place to cry.
I pray you both never stop exploring; the wilderness within and without.
I pray you look into each other’s eyes every morning with gratitude for the opportunity to breathe together for one more day.
I pray you each follow the journey of your bliss and find the faith and trust in each other, your marriage, and all of us gathered here today to keep going even in fear or doubt.
I pray this beginning together be a symbol of the rapture of being alive. As an individual and now… forever, united as one, creating the experience of life together.

The Story

I am surrounded by solitude
I am the song of silence
The surrender of spring
The shadow of the sun.

I am the severance of self
I am the sliver of a star
The stillness of a storm
And subtle simplicity

I am the sorrow of a sunset
The salutation of a sunrise.

I am the seduction of the senses
I am the sound of singing
The softness of sight
And the sparrow in flight.

I am the sigh of settling
The face never forgetting
The secrets of a story.

I am the skeleton of soil,
I am the sea of skin
The separated soul
And the sense of the surreal

The saint and the sinner
The end and the beginner.

I am the spark of spontaneity
I am the space within stillness
The siren and the serpent
Sensuality and Sin
Everything is within

Such is the story.

Whale Song

They say to know the song of the whale,
The storyteller, record keeper of the deep,
There must be true desire to want to know it,
To hold it inside and sing it out for the world.

So I say,
Cry out the words of the song,
Release the notes on wings, feather soft and hollow.
Empty like the weight of rock in the canyon,
Empty like the shadow of a new moon.
Fullness hidden by tricks of light
Points of perception and the travels of time.

Let it move
The way Aurora dances on silhouette horizons.
Let the voice sing out,
A deep belly laugh from children at play,
A bird song ringing through the winter air.

Bring the music to my heart.
An arrow released true,
To draw blood,
To feel sacrificial vulnerability and
The power of pain.

Release the notes from the page
From within my body.
There is no skin to contain this sound.
The rhythm comes from within my skeleton.
The marrow of my bones fills the notes and
Hardened calcium finds its place among the
CREAK, POP, BANG, BOOM
Of the body dancing with life.

Let the waves of this song
Flow through my being
With the courage to re-emerge like the whale.
From the depths
Into sunlit sky and fresh air
To take a deep breath
Of new music, of new stories
And release what has traveled so long
In the belly.

An Old Musician

How
Should
Those who know of God
Meet and
Part?

The way
An old musician
Greets his beloved
Instrument

And will take special care,
As a great artist always does,

To enhance the final note
Of each

Performance.

By Hafiz

You Came To Me

You came to me like you knew who I was,
You said my name like you had said it a hundred times,
You stood next to me as if there was no where left to stand,
You left without saying goodbye so many times,
but you said hello better than a thousand goodbyes.

You pulled me in,
Away from myself.
You left me swimming,
Searching amidst the waves for glances of you.
You always came back to me because I was always there,
a life preserver in uncharted waters.

Your eyes held me like the moon holds the tides
With ability to fill me so full I cannot swallow
or to take it all away,
thirsting for you and your next flood.

I stayed with the patience of stars,
Always there, shining
Rarely noticed from inside closed doors

I let you in,
Under the waves, under the covers of insecurities,
To let you sleep in my bed,
My place of safety,
My place of hope.

You listened to my dreams only to tell me of your own,
You touched my body to quiet your mind,
To find solace inside something soft,
if only for a moment,
An escape from the hardness of yourself.

You love with convenience, trust with anger,
Sleep with the restlessness of the ghosts you carry in your soul,
and live each day wishing for the end,
The great last cheap thrill to take you away
In some kind of blur, some kind of story, some kind of glorified lie.

You look at me like you know that there is more,
There is love,
There is God,
There is hope for you.

The River

Straight, solid, centered, safe.
I thought my path would be until I met the River.
A boat for a classroom, the lessons could be harsh,
Punishing a lack of attention or poor judgment,
Cold mountain currents pulled me from my craft and bounced me
Through rapids, pummeling against unyielding rocks.
When the volume is high, the obstacles change.
Maintaining my direction,
Committing to a course, proved more difficult than anticipated.
Whitewater rapids demanded all my focus, all my strength.
No changes to curriculum, I was informed the only way out is through.
As the River widened, gentler lessons were given: find the V,
The tongue, follow the bubble line to catch the deepest current;
Let the water push you forward with the least effort.
Golden eagles, blue herons, white pelicans,
Beavers were classroom monitors, witnessing my failures and progress.
Upon graduation I learned to follow the currents with grace and ease,
Not to push the river but move within it.
I found my path-
It was in the water.

~Diane Bergstrom

Dark Skies, Dark Eyes

Dark skies, dark eyes
Open to the light
Moving softly with the birth of daylight
Let me look into you
So I can remember everything I knew

Last night the oceans sang to me soft and slow
Giving me the gift to show
How things move with grace
Effecting the smallest place
Nestled deep inside
Where there is always so much to hide

So I ask you to open wide,
Dark skies, dark eyes
Show me what you see when you sleep
Below the waves buried in the deep
Undertow of fear
Let the currents draw you near

I hold the moon for you
Above the waves with muscle and sinew
Salt water tears to keep you afloat
My body as your boat
Stars in my eyes
I sing my song to make music with your cries

Do not disappear
Clouds are not forever and skies clear
Birds fly
Freedom in blue sky
Moon belly, heart of fire,
Soul of Earth that will never tire.

I offer this to you as my gift
No matter where we drift
On the back of the moon
Inside the silver spoon
Dark Skies, Dark Eyes

Electricity

I was driving myself crazy,
Thinking about how much energy I was using
Day in – Day out
Running frantically between light switches,
Plug-ins, televisions and the electronics appliances
Running our lives.

My family says I preach,
My bills say pay more money
My conscience says there is more than this.

I am just trying to help
To feel significant in this mass
Of energy that is my home.
Never does it seem good enough
No matter how hard I try to keep up
The ozone keeps melting
The forests keep disappearing
And the pollution steals my breath.

Some say there is hope
Some say it is the end of the world…
I say,
Turn off the lights.

Women of Water

We are the women of water.
We flow below you;
Bringing nutrients to grow roots,

and a place to leave your secrets.

We are shadows dancing in the caverns of the Earth,
Letting our voices rise through the depths,
Seeping through cracks in the floorboards, and
Traveling through rock to make music with moss.

We are the women of water,
We flow above you;
Tears of angels, sweat of God, and breath of clouds.
We swallow the cold of winter,
Letting snowflakes melt on our tongues until
Our bellies swell and release with the grace of
Shifting glaciers, running rivers, and moist Earth.
We bring green to your spring,
And puddles for your children to laugh in.

We fill the depths of Earth with what we have,
and bleed freely to give back life.
We are movement supported by the volume of many,
United by the power of expression and gratitude, we flow as one;
Peaceful currents, carving ice, toiling rapids, and rolling seas.

We are the oasis, the source.
Animals bow their heads and tongues tickle.
We let our form change,
Surrendering our bodies to the contours of the Earth,
Bending, twisting, and turning throughout the land.
A long, slender silhouette of grace and serenity.

We are the women of water,
The maternal, the solvent.
Disappearing and reappearing without warning,
Causing destruction, present at all births.
Everywhere and nowhere all at once,
A constant, changing form.

Our bodies undulate with the waves,
Hips sway and bring in the tide,
Belly breathes and the moon rises.
Strong hands, grounded feet, beating heart and flowing hair
All in rhythm, all as one,
Creating, celebrating and singing…

We are the women of water,
Bright eyes reflecting clouds and the smiles of angels.
Fallen from the sky and collected from the inside,
We are the container and the liquid,
The power and the peace,
The place where earth meets sky,
Where the sun sleeps and the moon is born.
We are the women of water.


To the water we go, of water we are, and to the waves, belongs my heart.

My Celebration

I walk with wide hips
Because that is where I came from.

I move like the River because
That is where I grew strong.

I get my secrets from the ocean because
That is where I travel.

I let my hair grow long
So my roots grow back into the Earth.

I wear bright colors because
The butterflies showed me how.

I shine like the sun because
She is my Leo goddess.

My skin is brown like Earth because
That is what covers me while I dream.

I sparkle with dangling jewelry
So I can dance with the gypsies.

I walk with barefeet because
I have nothing to hide.

I watch with wide eyes because
Owl whispered in the night how much there is to see.

I sing as I bathe
So that whale can hear my memories.

I remember to look up because
The stars like to be noticed.

I am. What I am.
Because of these gifts.
I celebrate each day
How it all has come. To be.

Crucified

Who’s to say he was religious?
Why should he have been political?
Or trying to gain power?
He was simply a traveler following his spirit
To find himself judged and hung on a cross

It was a sunny day when the men came
With shackles, clubs and fear in their hearts
They hoisted his body upon the cross
But he did not cry out, or seem to mind
His face full of grace, he rose above it all

Nails pierced his hands
Spikes crushed his feet
Many wept, some cheered
Thorns punctured his scalp
A crown never asked for

There were others too, haunting the horizon with rotting crosses
Corpses flapping in the breeze
He spoke out, in search of a voice
Never getting any answer
Only the crack of bones surrendering to gravity

People came to visit him
He could see their eyes from his perch
He wondered how they could stand the smell
Dried blood, torture and death
Such a horrible aftertaste
Souring their breath and burning in their mouths and stories forever

There were days when he was alone
Sky blue and cold above swallowed his cries in vastness
Only the grass seemed to listen
He told the delicate green blades his dreams
Of travels far beyond

I know of a place, he’d say
Where people are friends with angels
There is peace without war
Love without condition
Life without fear

The grass only laughed in the breeze
For it had been trampled too many times
By merciless feet on the way to the grave
Trodden and stained blood red in times of war
The grass knew the pain of change

For him, the pain had gone away
Softly, quietly in the night
It floated upward to the cold, colorless moon
Leaving him empty, void of feeling
Crucified.

Time of Grace

“Grace tangled in a rapture with violence”
~ Anne Dillard

There are days when I question my faith
For humanity and the future of this world
So much grace tangled in a rapture with violence
Awaiting prophetic release from acquired guilt

For humanity and the future of this world
I hold my hands together, fingers toward the sky
Awaiting prophetic release from acquired guilt
Just one more prayer to get me through

I hold my hands together, fingers toward the sky
In a room full of electricity and plastic flowers
Just one more prayer to get me through and
Take me away from the things I fear

In a room full of electricity and plastic flowers
I break mirrors with a bare fist
To take me away from the things I fear
All reflected in me

I break mirrors with a bare fist
So much grace tangled in a rapture with violence
All reflected in me,
There are days when I question my faith.

Moon in Pegasus

The Moon was in the constellation Pegasus tonight.
Silvery smile sparkling as she sat upon mythic horse wings.
They hovered over the River and
Told me to dream.
The River spoke as she always does.
Deep, graceful gurgling, and sing-song waves of wisdom.
I listened as I always do,
Full of water, aftertaste of Earth and swallowing it all.
I watched the night pass as the Moon straddled Pegasus.
They seemed to laugh together,
Wide horse smile and Moon mouth open.
Laughing a deep belly laugh,
Moon sat with her head tilted back.
Spilling moonbeams onto mountains,
Flooding out of wide River mouth,
Over boulders of bones and muscle mass of Earth.
I dreamed the Moon in my belly and the River in my mouth,
So that I could laugh too and
Feel the strong back of Pegasus between my legs while we
Glide across the river of dark sky.
Wide horse smile, Moon mouth open and full of River song,
Head tilted back.