Held Valentine

If love is the true oxygen

By which we live and breath

As all our teachers say

Seems the only way

This can all make sense

There must be another world  

A door behind the mind

That opens on an abyss

Where life has a second life

Bodiless and keen

Some philosophers like me

Just want to get it all down

To a simple equation

We can hold in our heads 

Paradise Garden Valentine

Unlike an herbaceous garden

With its winding blinding paths

The colors carrying you

A paradise garden

Reflecting heaven 

Is made of pools

Of shimmering water 

And the shade of trees

All of one species

Fierce granite lions

Guard the entrance

But the gate swings open

If you can stare them down

They only want to know

You're ready to be found 

 

On Your Assumption Valentine

Three rainbows appeared

 One in the lake one above

The mountains forming an eye

And one unnoticed at first

Just visible above us all

Except there is no one there

Unless you count the photographer

And the faces on the stones

Yellow along the shore

Would it be a sacrilege

To plunge into that water

To bathe in its colors

To disturb this peace 

With shouts of joy 

We Are All Atheists Now Valentine

There is joy in Joyce

And the dickens in Dickens

But I dream of atheists

Coming across the Bible

Overcome by the truth

Of its stories and styles

Overwhelming if true

We are all atheists now

Fierce for the truth we feel 

Better going it alone

As if we didn't 

Really need some god

To suffer for us

Caught in our denial

We will do it on our own 

Cain will be welcomed home 

What Life Wants Valentine

I think life at first

Is an equestrian sport

You're given a horse

To love and tame

Ride where it takes you

Round and round the track

Life makes us feel rebellious

Refusing to be ridden

It wants to take us back

When we want it to go on

But luckily death intervenes

To save us at the last moment

For a few moments

In another world 

Catching our breathe 

The Word Valentine

They say St. Francis

Kept a second Lent

From the night of the falling stars

To the feast of St. Michael

Every year they meet like this

To gaze out over the future

Francis loves to walk

And Michael can hardly

Keep up not saying a thing

Until wouldn't you notice

Snow of years is falling

A star is waiting to be followed

The great Now has come

Just as they said the word 

New Valentine

All the clocks in eternity

Go off at once 

But still the universe sleeps on

Dreaming of peace

Or peacefully dreaming

At least it feels that way

When I peer out into space

Who is not humbled

When the moon lays over

The sun a door opening

Then closing a key

Turned in the lock

A new era is entering

The atmosphere of the earth

It will take years to settle 

Summer Valentine

Why not expand out

Into the universe

Your secret self

After all it's summer

And we are called to witness

Showers of stars and see

They are as real 

As beauty gets

Light that is a being

Diving into the darkness

But this is all a set-up

For fall when the self

Can finally be left behind

That season where everything

Not forgotten is forgiven

You can see it in what leaves 

Book's Valentine

After all it was a book

That brought us together

Both searching for someone

Who had actually read it

To talk to about it

To humbly ask 

Can you explain it to me

I think I grasp it

But it slips away

So lost in allegory

I lose the thread

But look here's someone

Who understands it all

Or at least can share

My ignorance and awe 

No Stone Valentine

I follow my nose

Around the house

Playing cat and mouse

With myself we know

How that turns out

I seize on a few ideas

I tie myself in knots 

Then take a nap

The freedom of being old 

You can let go of time

Take long mental walks

Back and forth from childhood

And leave no stone unturned 

No day unwelcomed 

Angel's Valentine

Angel of the puddle

Left by the fountain

I am watching you evaporate

A matter of minutes

In this thirsty heat

Shrinking to a number

Of shapes a horse a dove

Now flown when

I wasn't looking

But I saw how you took up

Your invisibility again 

Hiding it in leaves 

Aiming to be a cloud

Or a stern blue one day 

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 

These Days Valentine

If we keep good notes

We can see how the world's

Suicidal ideation fluctuates

Not unlike the seasons 

Not grasping the full gravity

Of its recurring situation

We either cherish life or we don't

Still making up our minds 

These early days

Of our redemption

Still so much to be

Forgiven for

So much kindness

Still to come 

Our Lady Of The Subway Valentine

I am not psychotic she said

That's good because I'm not

Psychotic either I replied

Then what are you doing

Her eyes demanded to know

In this overcrowded madhouse

Whirling around us

Holding on to a rope

Holding on to your friends

If you have any 

I can still love you I said

Even if I don't know you

That can be our banner

Our whisper in passing

Why would love

Shortchange itself

When it can go on forever 

Reaching Out Valentine

It was when Lucifer

Started feeling guilty

In my soul too intelligent 

Not to feel his own illogic

To see who he was hurting 

When he finally woke up 

To the light he was carrying

He could put his hands

In the wounds from which

The light was flowing

He could try

The one thing he hadn't

He could be forgiven

The lost brother come home 

On That Note Valentine

In the Ninth Symphony

Of the self

When the composer finds

That one lost note

To go out on 

It fades and fades

But then he finds

He's counted wrong

This was just the Eight

Or perhaps the Sixth

What happens to a true musician 

When he loses count

He puts his instrument down 

Stands up and sings

In glory I'm going out 

Overheard Hummingbird Valentine

Something I want to sing

Before we slip away

Gone just like that

Everything left behind

It happens every day 

There's still so little 

We know about 

Our true inner lives

Our sovereign secret selves 

But if you let me I would like

To follow you into the future

Whatever becomes of you

I know it will be grand

I know I will be there 

Overwritten Valentine

What if all this is just a novel

We can't stop reading 

Inescapably autobiographical

But still fiction still romantic

Its writer restricted to a few words

Per day so he has us all

Suspended in his grip

Second-guessing where the plot

Seems to follow more than lead

But who is the pursuer

And who the apercu 

Rushing toward the last page

Which will never come

In subsequent volumes 

St Margaret Painted Valentine

I think Raphael only painted

Mirrors of the human soul

As he could clearly see it

He knew we would need them

When we forgot what it looks like

If you have to give it color

And the slow turn of a face

How the soul sits quietly 

In a field of memories

Surrounded by a dragon

Who brings us knowledge

Of ourselves our power 

Which Margaret has already overcome

And we can clearly see

How it's done 

Just Valentine

There is also the possibility

That nothing will come

Of sitting here in the shade

Listening to birds watching clouds

Like last night's rain

That never came

Still hanging in the air

And yet the stiller I sit

Wanting nothing more

Or less than just to be

I feel a peace come over me

Then I'd surrender everything

If I could just hold your face

For a few moments sitting here 

Among Old Things Valentine

If you're not too lazy

The best place to find

The heart of things

Is in an antique shop

Like the one in the corner

Of your eye on the way home

That museum of something

You might want to take with you

Somehow connected to what's coming

You might even find that sword

You've been so in need of 

The past is tempting

But who wants to live there

Quite a few it turns out 

Great armies of fear are

Ranged against the future 

And here is what is left 

Why We Dream Valentine

What can the night each night

Make of the day each day 

The Cherubim working overtime 

Confidently singing these days

While we sleep in and dream

Floating in the endlessness out there

And wake to find ourselves

Still here a mere microcosm

But of some other origin

Trying to fit love in

With what we take

Our secret agenda

Not to be loved

But to know we are loved

By someone out there

Great and beautiful 

Say Them With Me Valentine

How much karma is incurred

If you never speak the words

I love you if you hold them in

Or never get to hear them

Which I think accounts

For all the sins in the world

Or at least those not

Purely philosophical 

Like one's understanding

Of the words themselves

And to what and to whom

They can be entrusted

Even if never returned 

Still love must freely

Give itself away

I Keep Going Back Valentine

Remember where watercress spread

Along the passing stream 

And trillium filled the woods in spring

After all that preparation

You were born unfolding

Like a rose that could laugh

And scream this miraculous

Birth of all things 

To be held and cherished 

The rest was up to you

To follow your heart's rhythm

To know a rose

When you see one

To know you are one yourself 

Getting Through Valentine

I called the Lord today

As I sometimes do

But got another busy signal

You are the 38th million caller

In the queue press two

If you want us to call you back

Or press three if you can

Handle it yourself

And let the Lord get on

With more important things

For which the Lord

Does thank you every day

And bless you for calling

Your message was recorded

Have a good day 

Turning Valentine

Maybe not today

Will our forgiveness come

Neptune turning retrograde and all 

But it is coming rest assured

The stars keep their promises

Coming and going driving us on

But even they grow weary

Leaving us alone at times

To savor our grief 

Or stopping by to weep with us 

For a while and see

What we've understood so far

That merits their forgiveness

But maybe not today 

For A Moment Valentine

Is the East too full of itself

Still stuck on Buddha

And an exportable uniformity

Is the West still hung up

On its own corporeality

Having to face death 

And here between in the hills

Where Christ walked

Endless wars continue

Over the holiest lands

Let us not acclimate too quickly

To the irony of it all

And even for a moment forget

He is here he has

Overcome the world

If you want it 

The Right Answers Valentine

Where does strength come from

In the face of the world's

Devilish plans for us

Do little creeks of courage

Still run in our veins

Does spring still live

In our wintry hearts

If you can answer these questions 

You will be promoted

To the next higher level

You will be given a star

A new kind of astronomer

If you answered yes to all three

You will go far almost there 

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 

How Magic Comes Into The World Valentine

Like the old flowers and stones

We stand in a circle 

Feeling the weight of the world

As the first light weaves around us

And we can see our angels

Standing behind us lifting

Us slowly into the air

Where a great being above us

Has formed a cloud into a chalice

And placed us there somehow

While an even greater being

Hovering above us all

Places a single drop

Of light that grows

And overflows the cup

And sends us forth

To do some good today 

Something Valentine

That something can be

Both perfectly legal

And deeply immoral 

There's the rub where

Logic meets conscience

It is not love at first sight

Love won't listen to reason

Too long so things grow more

And more allegorical

When you step aside and see

What you stand for

What you truly represent

Your idea of a human being

How far you've traveled 

In Mortal Combat Valentine

What's really wrong can be hard

To figure out what's right

Can be even harder

Wrong requires you

To do nothing 

While right is up in arms

Did wrong lose its way

Always wanting to be right

What's wrong with you

Begotten of the stars

One great wrong has made

Everything right

The rest is just

The building of the temple 

After Valentine

Her companion bird

Was the red-tail hawk

So it makes a certain sense

After she passed she would

Reappear as one often

Sited circling the house 

We would call to her

And she would come

Perch in some tree

And let us take her picture

Or she would be soaring

In and out of the third heaven

Stretching our necks to partake

Of her glorious flight 

Just As Valentine

If our intention 

Was to love

Then we cannot

Have trespassed

If it was done

In love's name

Then something intended

Was completed 

That needed being done

Whether a hook or a hand 

We're offered a way up

By bowing down

To kiss the earth and you

Just as the stars intended 

Connoisseur of the Sun Valentine

I have come to the desert

To study the sun

Where it likes to luxuriate

And turn flowers into flames

Where it creeps over rocks 

One foot after the other

A great beast 

Sipping the darkness

Until there is none 

Is the desert what's left

After the heart was cast

That first one I mean

And we stood still for a while

O sun have mercy on our souls 

Getting It Right Valentine

I overlooked my elbow

So it plunged into the soup 

It look several minutes

Of my life to clean it up

All over the place

And then go hungry 

But all through the wiping up

Splatters everywhere

I tried to go slowly

Tried not to laugh out loud

Tried not to curse the waste 

But went to work on that mess

Till the kitchen shines

And I can stand back

Happy and exhausted  

That at least one thing

Got done right 

How Not Valentine

I will do things today

I have never done before

Things that will surprise me

I didn't know I had in me

Things will get done

Even if I never finish

My assigned tasks 

I have a list and my 

Parchment map 

Of the first true stars

I'll be able to remember

How not to forget things

Your names and faces

Everything I love 

Who Speaks Valentine

One friend says

The brain is a bubble

Easily tossed about

Merging with other bubbles

But still nothing inside

Nothing that abides

Another friend says no

The brain is a radio receiver

Voices come from far and wide

We dial in what we want to hear

But only when we turn it off 

And put ourselves aside

Can the heart be heard 

Sometimes Valentine

Sometimes in corresponding

With the dead it feels like

We are both in different

Kinds of prisons a glass wall

Between us you tell me

About your classes the concerts

The friends you're making

I never met my mother's mother

But she came to me in a dream

She was just sixteen

We talked for hours

But I don't remember a thing

Except the jade earrings she wore

How they answered her eyes 

That smile passed down

Where Valentine

Where do the gods

Actually touch down

Do you feel it in your shoulders

Disguised as pain or strength

Remember they don't

See matter anymore

So when you reach out

Your hand it's more like

A bright redness spreads

Don't the gods share

Their sufferings with us

As if we have the cure

They search among us

For some fallen substance

That yet could heal us all 

Whether Valentine

These warm nights of summer

Take us the farthest out

Into that dark forest

Where we can camp

On the edge of things

Peering through the trees

Out there where we can look 

Back on things calmly

And dither whether

To return given all

Our shortcomings

All of us under the burden

Of so many stars to become 

 

Come Summer Valentine

The gardener only shows up

When he feels like it anymore 

The cook has given notice 

Leaving a few recipes behind

And the cleaning lady vanished

Never to be seen again last year

Somewhere behind the books

But putting all of that aside

I yearn to know how

You are managing

On the other side can you

Come spend the summer with me

Or must I come to you

On waves of warmth

These summer nights

Searching for your star 

 

Real Estate Valentine

Let's take a little walk

My friend death said

Around the old neighborhood

Let's have a look at what

Is gone and yet somewhere

Gets recorded transcribed

And stored for future reference

Our first stop is Hell 

We've just opened a new level

And then of course there's

Our more contemporary Purgatory

Suburban locked estates 

And finally feast your eyes

On Heaven a little patch of grass 

Where you can rest 

Held Valentine

Sipping in one more dose

Of reality it's so elusive

Multifaceted and obvious

If we have any sense

Acquired thus far

It's all so cumulative

Our cloudy sunny lives

All so intermingling

It's not this

And then it is

This swaying

We call dancing 

For the moment

All we know 

That Word Valentine

For that one word

That would change 

Everything in the world

I searched through

All the languages I could

Or has it been already spoken

Edens ago and then forgotten

And we are left living

In its echo the one

Delicate subtle tender word

You whispered to me

We were standing in the dark 

Waiting for the sun you rose

I know I heard it 

Lord Wait Up Valentine

You knocked

But I sat waiting

For the second knock

Which would mean

You meant it

Bit it never came

Which meant 

You really meant it

Once and for all

And would still be

Standing there knowing

I had heard them

Those three sharp raps

And had better hurry up 

Quick Quiz Valentine

Would you be a simple shepherd

Or a Queen who keeps sheep

Would you have fields 

Carved into labyrinths 

And a glittering fountain

Or sleep alone under

Flowering stars

Waiting for the wolf

Would you prefer

Long journeys or a few

Valleys and hills

When you take them to market

Do you celebrate with wine 

Or weep with them farewell 

Nuance Over Numbers Valentine

You know how

Some people just aren't

Good at Math

At adding things up

They follow their feelings

Down some darker roads

They know what's clever

Doesn't always matter

What is beautiful for them

Is not to sit in a cage

Counting their money

Rich or poor

They hear the footsteps

Of their father coming home

Running to meet him

To give him one more chance 

Homesick Valentine

The voices of the dead

Ramble through my head

Hearing without ears

Seeing without eyes

I think heaven is no vacation

From what they tell me

Those first years of hardship 

Getting settled in

Long hours in the fields

Rest but no sleep

Working our way back

It's strange we feel better

In heaven but still

Long for the earth

Where we were born 

Your Summer Is My Winter Valentine

When I can't move forward

I go back tracing my steps

To where I lost my mind

To where I left my glasses

 

My soul is still waiting for me

At the corner in the blazing heat

It must be summer somewhere

And I haven't even left the house 

 

When Valentine

When the man with no hands

Played the first notes of winter

It was a blizzard of joy 

That followed locked

Away in some cabin

Even Vivaldi applauded

Rushing toward the stage

Let the snow bury us

His flute repeats

Let the lightning do battle

With the livid rainbow 

Nothing can stifle this joy

That carries us away

So far so deep the snow

We fly over

In a few beats 

Pictured Valentine

A narrow piece of wood

Is crawling up the post

Its stops for push-ups

Like a true athlete 

And to feel the sun

On its back basking

So true an acolyte 

Of the light it's become

A little flame with legs

Darting off or standing still

It's not just the flame itself

But our two minds right now

Holding the picture

Of it together amazing

So it never dissolves 

Ever Valentine

And what to do with this soul

We've been working on so long

With its cosmic moods

And hidden intentions 

Just trying to make a living

If I look sideways at my soul

I can see what's moving

In the darkness of its will

A child locked away

After forgiveness

The real fight begins

Love carries a sword

So it won't ever have to use it

As if beauty was enough 

We Are All Birds Valentine

You send me a picture

Of a three month old baby

Laying on its stomach on the floor

In the bird position

Head up wings tucked back

As if about to take off or land

That bird now caught

In the shape of a baby

As if to say Look

I made it through meteors

It was a long migration

I am yet another word spoken

In the conversation of gods

Who sing in unison I am 

And Not To Be Valentine

What to do with these bodies

We've been given chosen

These sinews and bones

These searching eyes 

What do they represent

And how to meet the bodies

Our prayers just keep

Bringing back every day

All the labor that goes into it

To come to more than nothing

To slowly be perfected

Its daily sacred task

And not to be afraid 

This Now You Speak Of Valentine

Can you really believe

It's only a few inches

Of kindness we've come

After all these centuries 

After all the stories

We've told one another

That the old must die

So the new can be born

Our souls recycling

Can you really believe

There is only becoming

More and more becoming

Don't you believe

We are also divine 

Right Now Valentine

What's happening right now

That's important in the world

Is a single gold flower

Catching the sun

All around it purple shadows

The darkness finally asleep

I just noticed its fiery

Loneliness as it receives

Its drop of glory

From that endless source

It made me laugh and weep

To see how far it's traveled

To let me be its witness

Adding its bright flame

To all to come 

Unless Valentine

They say if a few

Huddle together thinking

The same thought

Freely as one soul

They make an opening

For a higher being

To step through

Escaping heaven

Bypassing death

Aren't the gods

Like the dead

Always waiting

To be welcomed in

Unless we forget

Where we are from 

On Lawrence's 'Pentecostal' and the Source of All Poetry, Pentecost, 2026 Valentine

Between the domestic

And the cosmic

We can see

The lines are blurred 

Like buildings in a puddle

And yet they're married

Equally to the same reality

Of time and space they take

The peonies I bought

All dropped their petals

At the same time this morning

Covering the table

What can you make of that 

Trying Valentine

I was trying to address

My life so far

Since my last confession

The statistician of my soul

Says the numbers aren't looking good

I keep getting a different sum

I've yet to spend

Combing through the columns 

Is it our regrets

That will crawl us back

Something I meant to say

That might have made you laugh

I'm trying to coalesce

What it was that made it

Come down to this caress 

To Be A Saint Valentine

The future pauses for a while

The past mumbles on

You have to have good feet

To be a saint all that

Standing and singing

All that feeling peace

You have to touch the ground

To stand up right and walk 

You have to keep track

Of everything while

Noticing nothing 

So far out of place

Your simple glance

Can't set it straight 

Always Coming Valentine

Are they a prophecy

Of some future age

Or the gleaming residue

Of some former time 

The saints and angels

Who come into this world

As into the lion's den

Their paths lead upward

And downward as they

Push maya aside 

This beautiful world

In which I cannot find

Myself except in you always

Coming to my rescue 

What Good Valentine

There is a bird in my brain 

I have yet to name

A nest of woven twigs

Where she has laid her young

Where are they now

When spring is almost done

Sister to pelican and dove

Come back when those have gone

Give me back my wings

What good is a heart that cannot fly

Endlessly toward what it loves

But whenever I approach the nest 

She flutters off so fast

I barely catch a glimpse

Of her pale breast 

Peonies At Pentecost Valentine

As we can plainly see

The peony takes the rose

One step further 

It suggests its capacity

For love goes even deeper 

Than love first thought

Imagine if your destiny

Was to be licked by flames 

Into a roseate cluster

Or have a candle flame

Appear above your head

The possibility of flowering

Could still come to you

The peonies confirm it

The rose has promised us

Zoo At Pentecost Valentine

Visiting the manicured prison

Of exotic trees and animals

You could have been an ibex

Your long horns stuck

In the wall behind you

We discover what the tall

Palm trees are lifting for

The elegant awkward giraffes

To rub their long necks on

Do you remember riding them 

Nomads of an endless shore

In some long-forgotten life

When we were all on friendly terms

And they had no reason

To be afraid or shy from us

Or was there ever such a time

Or is it still to come

When all the locks are broken

And all the trees fly off

Leaving their names behind 

Stopped Valentine

If you can picture the whole world

As one walking human being

As sooner or later

We are compelled to do

A body with its internal organs

In various states

We call countries

And its ever-changing complexion

We call the weather

If you can feel it

Striding through the cosmos

Like a man going off to work

Or a woman coming home

Don't you stop amazed

At the bravery of it all 

There Valentine

Do you balk and temporize

When the only way out

Is to apologize

Does it worry you

When you tell a lie

As we all do

Once in a while

Are there moments 

When you stop thinking 

Of yourself when you swim

Out past the world

To find your star

Let me meet you there

In that timeless time

Even if only in my mind 

Conjured Valentine

I call the dove to my yard

She says maybe later

I call the finch to my roof

He sings a brief motif

From some forgotten opera

Promising a revival

I call the voice of a child

Just barely audible

It could be joy or sorrow 

To come and sit with me

And play a game of checkers

Let me lose to you again 

In the glory of your smile 

In the victory of tomorrow 

Quantum Valentine

The quantum of kindness

In the world at any given time

Like hills in a landscape

Like ponds reflecting the sun

Is directly proportional

To the weight of a heart

Or a hand on the scale 

When did kindness become

Inappropriate weakness

Did she grow up poor

In a hidden forest

Still waiting for some prince

To come and claim her 

Unless Valentine

Closer and closer we're coming

To the clear perception of our

Dependency on one another

The old upon the young 

To carry the golden bough

Through the underworld

Of our current delusions

The concept of it sweeps

Though minds coming to think

The same thought

Unless we are kinder 

To one another 

We are doomed

To kill the earth 

Right Now Valentine

When I say I now

I mean you too

Whoever you are

Who reads this

How could this rendezvous

Not happen these glancing

Moments together

But right now I am alone

Waiting patiently

For your arrival

My future loves

I have a meal to prepare

And a wine to select

I have put my heart in your hands 

Amid The Screams Valentine

If you don't like children

It's not a good sign

But I can understand

You might want a break

This morning I overheard them

Playing in the yard next door

Their screams and eager laughter 

Hitting a ball around

And then suddenly silence

All swept indoors

I remember being five

Watching them from the fence

Half wanting to go with them

Half content on my own 

What Is Met Valentine

When we gather together

The insufficiency of each

Feels completed in the other

A temporary wholeness holds 

As among musicians or singers 

Warming up for some concert

Where can we take this song

But to our mother's grave

And bid her wake and speak 

Our childhood stories once again

One more time before

We fall asleep

In the presence 

Of our king 

Operatic Valentine

How many acts are there left

In this singing world

How many scribbled drafts

And obvious revisions

Do we have to go through

To get it down

To the right inflections

Because I love you isn't 

Enough syllables

To get you there

The one thing that could

Actually be believed

The thing that made you

Stop and stare

Beauty undressing truth

The curtain closing  

Another Birthday Valentine

I slept in till ten

This morning something

I don't often allow

Because it was the birthday

Of your death and we'd stayed

Up all night talking

Long distance love affair

Now we meet up in the ether 

You half-reaching me

And I almost touching you

What's still here when they

Carry the body away

The body that loves the world 

So much it never wants

To leave except the pain

That carries it away 

Harbored By the Dead Valentine

We don't see them

Except in dreams 

But they're still there

They see us vividly

While ours is a coarse

Sensing of their presence

Like Gabriel they just appear

Like Mary we don't believe it

At first at times their love

Breaks through 

To remind us

We are always

Safe at home 

Sometimes laughing 

Predictive Valentine

After the war

Of all against all

We will hear 

A Baptist choir

John will come again

To the river and wait

Eternity will wait

Will you show up

Even if only at the last minute

Rushing in through the trees

Did you almost sleep through it 

Alarm after alarm going off 

Who would want to be the Christ

When you think of all that means 

Brothers Valentine

I think it's our clever brother Lucifer

Who teaches us about feeling free 

To do whatever we want

While it's the other brother

Who teaches us about grace

That mysterious element in the world

Or what is freedom for

He had his father's habits

And his mother's darling eyes

Which made him unafraid 

And eager as a child

To accept the whole world 

He must be in his twenties now

Still climbing the empty hills

Always just arriving

In the village of some heart 

Make Way Valentine

A beautifully cool day in May

Which seldom happens in the desert

And then the almost unrecognizable 

Sound of rain's answered prayer

Sweeping through the yard

The seasons themselves

Coming in out of order 

A few days of fall

Followed by blazing summer

Spring lost in the shuffle

I sense the air around me

Filling with bright angels 

And witches on long brooms

Come to clear a new path 

Breaking Through Valentine

Defying evolution

Every now and then

There's a revolution

In the human heart

Defying human reason

When faith is not enough

For hope to live on

Heaven intervenes

In some atmospheric way

It cannot help itself

But must rush in to rescue

What it can like a crazy man 

Running into a burning house

This human heart we carry

Through the flames 

At The Urgent Care Valentine

How is violence

Received in heaven

Is it carried in

On a stretcher bleeding

He was only a boy

Staring up at the doctor

He lost his temper

And killed his brother

Is there still one bed

Left for him enough

Of the right medicine

To slowly recover

But the wards are full

And we are running out of doctors 

More Valentine

I listened to the old men

Speak what they had learned 

As young men eager and afraid

In the temples of longing and love

What stuck with them

Through all the vagaries

And unexpected turns

The stones and shells

They would take back with them

To lay at the feet of love

Their hearts like begging bowls

Their eyes brimming with tears

Their silent wish in the end

To be sent back for more

After All Valentine

For one to get to three

It must endure duality

It must break the soul

Into an army of opposites

Warring in the will

While all along

It is only the heart

That can mend the mind 

Torn apart its cities

Laid waste its bodies

Screaming for their mothers

What is the heart after all

But a hovering thing

Our only true power 

Does Life Live For Itself Alone Valentine

My feet are burning in the sun

While a cold breeze swims 

Around my head 

Never more alive

And in between

My gathering body sits 

A shade in shade 

At one of death's bus-stops

Far out in the hills I suppose

Where it rushes past me

Forgetting to stop again and again 

I heard someone say

He didn't want to be here anymore

He thought his life a shame

To be relieved of by some peace

And he was right

But it's not that simple quite