She was the best mom.
In hard times, she’d put a Bible under my pillow
so words of comfort mingled with my dreams.
(Fear not, for I bring you tidings of great joy.)
She never let a stranger-child go hungry,
even with that big farm, big family –
drove my father nuts!
It’s a KID, she’d say.
That was that.
FEWalls
Five billion years —
we must find a new home.
Five billion years —
the earth falls into the sun’s embrace
and will not let her go.
Our species needs five billion years
to burn the dross from our souls,
shame, the wick of the burning candle.
Holy Father-Mother-Creator-God of the galaxies
beyond our own, owner of the infinite
colors of infinitude, let us learn our lessons now
so when this moment comes,
we have already learned to fly.
You are trapped in the gyre,
drifting in the ocean without oxygen
in a mass the size of Texas.
You can escape. Lean close.
You must throw yourself into the endless whirlpool,
lashed to a barrel.
You think you will die of fright
but this is the only way to salvation.
Here you start to shift your muscles into a new shape,
where the paralyzed learn to walk
controlling one muscle and then the next.
The miracle is imagining that you walk.
The sky turns gold, a platterful of sun.
You will be reassembled!
Beyond you, a bird-flier comes
chewing up your doubt with its long red tongue.
See your life whole now
skimming along the sleek side of a whale
as it careens from one continent to the next.
FEWalls
A Long Perspective 