september

there is an urgency
today
in the green
of the trees
behind my house,

leaves so seriously
intent
on coloring
the cooling light
as it falls to the ground,

as if they know
the nearness
of winter's
silver
silence.



jws
sept 2006

meteor shower

alone on my back
between midnight and morning,
I wait and shiver
against the freezing wind.

my eyes fixed on the deep above
through frame of roof and treetop

it begins.

first one…
then three…
seven…
I lose count
they come so quickly

tiny bits of cosmic (more than ancient)
dust on a journey too vast,
for a time too great
to be grasped by the humbled creature
I have suddenly become.

so beautiful the flaring streaks of light.
so elegant their arc and curve.
each blaze a brief and brilliant
death.

not a
molecule
left
intact.

what was
is no more.

and I watch in wonder,
in growing terror
that such a thing should be

so silent.





jws
november 2006

element

bend low
to catch a drop
of glistening
shimmer
from the blossom

lift it cool
and quivering
to your eye

watch the swirling
dance of color
and light

now listen


.

ashes

Chestnut curls
drift
in lazy whorls
strangely
slowly
to the floor,
time itself reluctant
to touch her.

But hair will grow
again not knowing
how relentless
is this blade.

clothes torn
hair shorn
nothing left
to cut?

(reluctant fingers
relax their hold – cold
clunk of steel on counter)

I need now
only ashes.

She turns away
from the mirror,
seeing nothing,
hearing nothing,
feeling blessed nothing
near the surface in this moment,
thinking only of the ashes...


must be something here
to burn...


12-08-2006
jws

upon the purchase of a new sketchbook

I wish to learn
the language of lines,

to sing
in effortless arcs
and sweeps.
to whisper soft
in shades and strokes,

to speak spirit
with movement,
to feed it
with friction,
with pressure
and lifting.

Then I might say
what cannot be
spoken.