russet leaves falling
blown by breath of life and death
soaked in bloody frost

What the lights told me

The sky pulsed and quivered
as I stood looking up
into the bosom of Aurora Borealis --
dancing without inhibition
or desire for an audience
but simply for the joy of  being
of illuminating
of showing
of shining
and I ached
to partake
in the fullness of experience
that proclaims an absence
of artifice
and then, succumbing
my thoughts raced for another
to validate the experience of me
while the seething lights shamed
and continued their admonishment
to blend, to go blank, and to be.

Unequally Yoked

The Wedded Rocks (Meoto Iwa), just off-shore, close to Ise Shinto (The Holy City or Capital of the Kami) shrine in Mie Prefecture, Japan. These are the “Husband and Wife Rocks,” a Shinto shrine representing the union of creator kami (deities) Izanagi and Izanami, and thereby celebrate the sanctity of marriage between man and woman.The larger rock is said to be the male rock, and has a small torii, or sacred purifying entrance, at the top. It is known as Oiwa. The male rock measures 9 meters tall and 40 meters around; the female rock is 3.6 meters high and 9 meters around. The female rock is known as Meiwa.

Calculus of Regret

my aches are older
deeper, more indelible
precautionary

new apparatus
valuing a back-up chute
freshly wiser, old

plumbing heights and depths
measurement of tolerance
calculus of regret

Drivin' & Cryin'