Independence Valentine

How precarious can it get

We roll right up to the edge

Of the abyss turning our backs

To take another selfie

But I remember you hiked

All the way to the bottom

Of the world and slept there

Watching the rushing stars

You saw it was a Ferris Wheel

Loading and unloading

I can only imagine how

You made it back up again 

Just to show yourself you could

If you wanted to

Overcome this world

If you had what it would take 

 

Morning Prayer Valentine

O You Mothers and Fathers

In the heavens so near so far 

I come to plead with you today

To not let us bury ourselves

So blindly in this beautiful world

We cannot see you in it

I know you see we are

Still ignorant children here

Refusing to see what's there

Right in front of us

You present in all things

Building your likeness into the world

Year after year be merciful

I beg in my friend's name

Amen 

Waiting Valentine

Where does even the idea

Of a soul come from anyway

We have to imagine it

From many different angles 

The whole thing doesn't

Hang together without

It comes to the question

What will you do with yours

To what will you give it

For whom will you live it

While waiting at the door

Between the worlds 

Of a whole new connection

With the circling stars 

Owed Valentine

If I could name

All the people I've known 

In my life now old

It would only be 

To thank them and ask

How they're doing 

What happened next

What escapades befell them

After we met and lost touch

It would only be to go back

And meet them in a new time

Regret becomes gratitude

I would tell them

I owe you my life 

Again And Again Valentine

I still fear the heights

I still fear the depths

I feel myself stretched

On the horizon often 

Looking out aghast

And heartened

Seeing how far

How short I've fallen

But whatever steps I've made

They have all been taken

By someone better than me 

When I listened to him 

My patient angel my friend

Come to set me free again 

Interview With The Dragon Valentine

I tried to sit down with him

For a civil conversation

I tried to explain how much

I admire his ferocity

And the perfection of his teeth

How he could extinguish me

With a single blow

If I did not keep

This sword in his neck

He just needed to calm down

How he persuaded me

To see some part of me

In him and that we would be

Brothers in the end 

I Have A Picture Valentine

I believe you were my substitute

For God in those ten years 

I'd put him aside

We needed a break

I know it sounds extreme 

But I did adore your first

Toes and fingers

Your first laughter

The wonder in your face

I couldn't tell if you had 

To poop or just saw God 

Don't we all start out as cherubs
I am so grateful sweetheart

You chose to be mine 

When Valentine

What is memorable

About memory

Is what is unforgettable

About forgetting

We are what we remember

About ourselves a mystery

Intimate and collective

When we forget ourselves

And remember you

Everything else in the world

When we grow tired

Of being ourselves

And suddenly

Remember you in us

Repentant Valentine

It was always my mouth

That got me into trouble

Speaking out of turn

I played my nouns

Not politely and my verbs

Stung until my face

Was slapped a ruckus

In the back of the room

I was trying to get

Behind the words

This compulsion I had

To say something true

Not to let things go

All my wrongs come down

To what I should have said

To words I should have used 

Who Valentine

Who does not need flowers

Their beauty feeds us all

Not as decoration but as

Celestial beings embodied

Sometimes the most intelligent

Things in a room full of people

Yammering away 

Their dignity is that

They come only so far 

Into our world

Beauty can be

A bit of a scold

But finally all

She has to say to us

Is Bloom Bloom

For heaven's sake 

Forgive Me Valentine (for Gayle)

Who is this forgiveness

We are so afraid to ask for

So hesitant to give

Is it what will have to

Happen next we fear

After the embrace and tears 

That you will have to

Start all over again

With nothing but some

New-found sincerity

Under the watchful eye

Of one proud angel

Must everything be forgiven

Must everything be loved

Is forgiveness our only progress

If peace is still our goal 

I forgive you even if

You don't agree with me

Can we hug now

And just get on with it 

Desert Song Valentine

Merciful clouds

Cover the sun

We are grateful

For the shade

The car battery is dead

And the air conditioner

Is being replaced as we speak

In a couple of days

It will all go back to normal

Levels of hell outside

The blazing sun in a clear blue sky 

What does all this warmth want

To tell us about the gods'

Strange purposes for us

When we get through the fire 

Thereafter Valentine

Some thoughts pierce the mind

So nothing is the same thereafter

Pelican-like they fold back their wings 

And dive into the depths

Of the eternal sea

To seize the essential fish

That alone sustains them

Some thoughts re-make the mind

That thinks them so the way

Ahead is clear even if cloudy

Chevrons in and out of the fog

Calling us to a new direction 

Follow us they suggest

We are already perfection 

Garbage Valentine

The garbage truck

Stops and sighs

Outside my door

What is it waiting for

I've made my gift of waste

But it keeps wanting more

Of what could be thrown away 

Then shuffles down the street 

To eat my neighbor's store

Like us devouring the world

This superabundant earth

Prepared to give us everything

Even garbage trucks

To carry away the waste 

At the River Valentine (for Claudia)

The dove is what the rose became

A metamorphosis of light and color

After the eagle had been tamed

Before the sparrows could intervene

So the dove could be the composite

Of all earthly birds

The Ur-bird

The Christ bird

To rest above his head

In the beginning there was

This peace of the dove

When the sun was highest in the sky

Linger there for a while

If you can and tell me

What you see

If it not be love 

The dove became