One for you

A thought this morning
Out walking -
I thought
I ought
To love my body
As it was moving -
To allow and enjoy
The infinite intelligence
Of this living system
And its movement -
And in that moment
I said to myself
That I loved my body -
And then laughed
At the physical recognition
That the ‘I’ that I clung…

The know-it-all and the fool

In the old days,
people who knew the way
didn’t try to show other people the way
but left them as they were.

I will bury my feet in clay

I will bury my feet in clay.

Firmly planted
In the riverbed
I’ll count the stones
As they are washed
past my ankles
by the current

Don’t push

Just carry on.
Don’t push ahead.

Just do the work.
Don’t make an effort.

It’s easy to start work on something difficult.
You can do great things in very small steps.

Your way will be clear

Let things happen naturally
and you’ll avoid disaster.

Give your life the time it needs
and you’ll always have enough time.

Little fish

Whether you’re ruling a big country,
or frying a little fish,
the rules are the same.

Do it the right way and you’ll have no trouble.
Or, you’ll have trouble, but it will pose no threat.
Or, it’ll pose a threat, but it will do no…

I think of a storm

I think of a storm
Of raging ocean waves.
The kind that surfers dream of.
And us, out at sea, 
throwing ourselves into the swell.
Seeing the life in the water
but ill-equipped to ride it.
Crashing again and again,
churning in sand and foam — 
exhausted arms and legs
reach out for the shore…

Taking Charge

I hold a moment of devastation
in a knot
in the back of my neck

And a creased muscle near my eye
is the souvenir
of a bad time.

Generations

You may wish for a river
To pour down your spine
And wash away the growling
Dependency of desperate days.

You may wish for an ocean
To rise and overwhelm
The hyperactive strategies
Of agility and agency.