Monsoon Valentine

The dust of despair

Is in the desert air 

Don't let me catch it

Except for a few seconds

Just to reassure myself

It leads us nowhere 

Hope is hope because

It's the only way through

To the other world

Where the explanations live

With their accompanying footnotes

A text you can finally read

Blowing off the dust 

Clouds and clouds 

Prayerful Valentine

Lord let me help myself today

To some ice cream for breakfast

And a stroll around my estates

Lord you have preserved me

Like a pickle in a jar

In the back of the frig

You have wrinkled me 

With worry I'm never enough 

Which keeps me fastened

To my body don't let me

Squander these last days

On a shoe-string budget 

Lord let me spend it all 

Elegaic Valentine

More a Platonist

Than I would plan

Less an Aristotelian

When I just want to sit

And talk with you

About totalitarianism

And the freedom of all beings

But in personal terms

To calm us down 

Only what passes between us

Is the really living thing

The few words I can speak

In honor of your passing

In honor of your arrival 

Higher Mathematics Valentine

Get it through your head

Two plus two equals five

The extra point the interest

Taken in retrospect 

But looking forward

We can see the dead

Coming to rescue us

With their proof of life

Their higher mathematics 

Which will clarify

What we're doing here

Still counting on our fingers

While a whole new world 

Rushes in to solve us 

My Loves Valentine

The torn nets of my brain

I cast out on the stream

Fishing for my true feelings

Out there somewhere

Drawn up from the depths

The beautiful trout of love

The salmon heart of love

Even the humble sunfish of love

I would catch and eat

I even rejoice in my

Empty nets knowing

They all got away

They all will be back

One wintry day 

Unvouched Valentine

A small cry intimate

In the quiet sunny air

I couldn't tell if it was

Bird or animal or child 

Or duck one pond over

My quiet nest

A new word being born

Searching for the mouths

To speak its holy name

It cannot be

I'm the only one

Who heard it

Will you vouch for me 

More Valentine

Don't think the stars

Are against us just because

They gather in some 

Strange combinations

What's here is a mirror

Of powerful forces 

Swirling above us

Think when there were no stars

Back to the warm nothing of you

When the first seed was planted

In the endless darkness

Yet here you are rising and falling

Or at least your star is

With so much more to become 

Pale Blue Valentine

Pale blue their purple fades to

Pale yellow their gold 

They almost fill the yard

A hedge-high forest of flowers

Completely volunteered

A few young trees among them

A few hummers who hover 

Is this what happens

When you leave things alone

When you let it all go

Something you didn't plan for

Some beauty you didn't

Even know you needed 

Where there was none before 

 

Dreamed Valentine

In my crowded dream

My angel passed me

My instructions for the day

I tried to remember her words

Before they slipped away 

Her speech was vapor

Something about knowing

What the moment needs

Or needing in the moment

What the moment knows 

Before the ocean of this world

Swept over us and we

Momentarily lost contact 

Her left waiting for me to wake 

Reaching Valentine

On a deeper level

We are left to imagine

The gods are always

Working on us

If we stand still 

For a moment

The god of air

The god of water

We can feel them

Weaving the earth

Into our bones

And what of the god of fire

Will she not burn in us

Reaching for our hearts forever 

Saved Valentine

In the middle of hell

After a good rain 

For a single day

Cool breezes fill the valley

You are working so

You might have missed it

How when the sun

Is muted to gray

The green in the yard

Lights up it glows 

For a few hours

But don't worry 

I've saved it for you

You who work do hard 

Also Valentine

Saturn stations

In your heart today

Stares at you

Looks you up and down 

So what is it you wanted

Calling me back

To those who lose

The thread of love

Trading it for power

Over others 

Don't you also have

Your secret plan

For the world a picture

That proves all

The prophecies true

When the sun comes home 

 

Karen's Valentine

I bow to you dear Karen

Such a great spirit 

Tucked inside a tiny space

A whole community

Your work brought together

Gives you its highest

Recommendation to heaven

For being a herald

Of great possibilities

Wider vistas for our souls

You've left us in your will

So we know you will be

Sending us your love

As much as you can 

Turning Valentine

Every two weeks or so

I pull a trick

On these four flowering pots 

And turn them around

With their backs to the sun 

So we can get a good look

At one another and picture

How our bodies are growing

Bowed over and yearning

To get back to the sun

It takes us three or four

Days to stand upright again

And bring you water

So our leaves can go on 

In Case Valentine

Do you keep always with you

A reservoir of tears

Stuffed in your pocket

Or a good belly laugh

Ready to leap out

Just in case the world

Goes sideways quickly

Tears and laughter 

Are my back-up plan

A kite would be nice

An asterisk in the air 

Leading to a footnote

Cross over if you dare

I will be waiting there