April 5

It is not complicated
Being a little man
Do the plan, drink the Kool-Aid
Avoid confrontation and dissonance
Be the cog
Avoid cognition
Live and love the tyranny of the mind
Flinch when dharma is revealed
Cringe and cry at dukkha
Be little
And wear the right shoes
No one will notice
If you play by the rules
And don’t go big,
Don’t even think about it.

April 4

I knocked on your door
And
Stepped into the slip stream of your
Energy
It required me to shift gears, mind and body
More than once
Required me to dig into my bag of Acme devices
Coyote-like
To catch you Roadrunner
Allured
I wallowed in your footsteps dreamlike
Bemused
Knowing that you had slowed,
Teasing
Then pleasing.
Somehow, we have learned to do this dance.

April 3

I’m feeding the squirrels.
I used to believe that I was
Feeding sunflower seeds to the birds,
But not so much anymore.
They usually just wait and watch from a nearby branch
The front row seats, filled with Chickadees, bills gaping seedlessly
No concession snacks for the meek.
I swear that the squirrels used to come disguised:
I liked the blue jay outfit.
The faux feathers, tufted crest
Gaudy like turquoise jewelry, or an Ocean City miniature golf course.
Their bad ass attitude would trick you on a snowy morning.
Now they just put on a gluttony show
Hanging upside down
Legs akimbo, a Kama Sutra of dexterity
They Buddha-belly up all day to the all you can eat for one price table.
Their big dewy eyes hardly flinch
When I run out waving a dish towel and yelling.
Eventually they trot off to a nearby tree and watch, smirking.
Hey, they enjoy a show with their meal too.
And they’ll be back for the second show.

April 2

I just couldn’t help myself
As I paused to glimpse at the show:
I’m having your brother’s baby or
The woman you’re dating is really a man…
I only meant to just watch for a moment
Judgementally
To see how preposterous
Ridiculous
But they were having an all day marathon
And it was rainy and cold outside, anyway
And I…
So I took the phone off the hook
And watched all day,
Like I thought I would live forever.
Preposterous.

April 1

The snow is raking from
April skies
Composed of slate-bottomed texture-less clouds,
It is shearing the morning light with its
Tongue scratching edges
Cast down upon us by some merry prankster
On a less than creative day.
Uninspired
And truly unappreciated,
It neither coats the ground nor
Taunts the frog,
Cratering with silent percussive thuds
Rushing to a splosh
Delighting in a deviously conceived assault
On my selfish vernal dreams,
As if to demand my pointless surrender
And to stipulate a
“Let’s get this over with.”
Before sliding down the hoary horizon.

Dry Warm Place

Is war all we know?

~

Cat and chicks seek their dry-warm places

On this damp-cool morning.

Cat crawls on a willing lap

Knowing that this sure safe spot

Requires claws to be withdrawn

Simple comfort and safety call for such concession.

The cat is willing, for a peaceful nap.
~

Chicks scuttle and scurry,

Peeps tumbling like little penguins,

Five, maybe three days old,

They already know that the hen

Will spread her wings and sit motionless

Offering the safety of her brood patch

Longer than she might like; she’s hungry…

But driven by some other greater desire

She gives

To save from harm these small lives.

~

Still seated

The lap and cat

Both gaining mutual warmth,

Sharing a quiet moment

Extending a meditation,

Breathing slowly, harmoniously

Watching the chicks and the morning

Unfold,

Perhaps knowing

That peace can happen in every moment.