Begotten Valentine

We are begotten not made

The way a machine is made

Out of a concept

That comes to us

Out of the air

In a blazing light

We are formed out of words

Magicians weave over us

To calm the spell

They keep trying to undo

Faced with the world we've made

We children of the gods

Begotten of their mercy

And their too much joy 

Kept Valentine

If you can read them right

You must have noticed

It's all hand-made

These stars at night 

Each word carefully placed

In the buzzing treasury

Where everything is kept

Where the eyes in the e's

Hold their gaze

And the o's form

A church choir

Singing between

The g's and the d's

Hoping to be saved 

Love Awaits Valentine

Love awaits us all

If we practice it enough

We get to play a tune

We get to stand up

And just start singing

In the grocery store

In another language

We get to keep love

Under-wraps  at length

And go home hungry

Love feeds us love

To feed on and grow strong

Love is full of surprises 

And aren't you one

As much as I 

When Valentine

What will you do

With your little life 

When you wake up

In the land of light 

Where everything's transparent

Clear abrupt I think

First I'll find a little

Motel on the edge

Of town considering

What's ahead they will be

Waiting I know

To embrace me

To take me in

But I'll just need

A few moments alone

To kiss the darkness goodbye

And hold you morning

In my arms 

Compelled Valentine

 My mission is missing today

The letter didn't come

Or it did and I've misplaced it

So I'm free to do whatever

And maybe a nap later

What compels me to report

My findings to you

Except another morning

With its lists of clouds

But today it's endless blue

As a baby's smile

A little wave

Moving out into

The world 

The Words Slip Away Valentine

What do you call it when

You toss four or five balls

In the air and try

To keep them there

What do you call it when

You struggle to recall

The word for something

You are always doing

Throwing a ball and catching

It and then another one

I'm up to three for now

What do you call it 

This skill this art

Forgetting and remembering

The words like lovers falling apart

Then getting back together again 

Morning Song Valenttine

A single leaf is moving

In the gray dark yard

Like an oboe tuning up

The yellow violins start to sway

Their green arms

Back and forth but only

Silence carries the song 

Enclosed like a seed inside

But look the conductor

Finally arrives

To make the whole yard

Shiver in that first

Lifting of the light

Singing the darkness out 

 

Since My Last Confession Valentine

You stink old man

It was a fly

Suggesting a shower

But I just sit here

Thinking how how many souls

Have occupied this body

Crusty now around the edges

In its slow dissolving

How many bodies

Have occupied this soul

In just one life-time

Never enough time

To make proper amends

Or hopefully shower 

Who Gives Valentine

We sense another revolution brewing

A line approaching that must be crossed 

We look back to the past 

To see what happens next

The destruction of the cities 

We have just rebuilt

These are the days before all that

When I can write to you calmly

Who make it to the other side

Whether in heaven or on earth

Keep going freedom awaits

Did you think our lives

Weren't worth it 

Given over and over again 

Two Journeys Valentine

You're off to Turkey

I'm off to bed

You encounter the mystery

I'm camping in some dream

You discover it in the food

I find it in the flames

It was the fire all along
That made these things

We creatures of light

And lovable darkness

Steal a small stone

From Nemrut in memory

Of what we once knew

And have yet to make known 

On Its Way Valentine

All the scopes are full

Of hope today

All the signs are dancing

At once or does that

Ever happen that the stars

Get together on the same night

To celebrate the creature

They have made and cared for

Is there one holiday in heaven

When there are parades

Fresh faces blowing horns

Human Beings' Day

When the Archetype

is carried through the streets

Ever on  its way 

Which God Valentine

It's clear isn't it yet

We need to be jolted

Our of our lethargy

From time to time

To make a little history

Out of an ordinary life

Then get folded back in

It's clear isn't it yet 

We all want to be gods

Whether in heaven or on earth

The Great Ideas present themselves 

And we are left to choose

Between thinking

And not thinking

And which god to pursue 

Shoreless World Valentine

Rain at last

Pounds down

Like anger

And forgiveness

Mixed together

The thunder of harsh words

Given and taken back

A curse and then a blessing 

The lightening gods

Still waiting to be believed

There are fields of them

The way the rain is coming down

Advancing in floods

There is no turning back

In this shoreless world 

Love Awaits Valentine

If anyone asks you

What you are doing here

In the middle of the world

Like someone lost and tired

In the middle of an airport

Stopped and standing still

The whole world 

Rushing past in both directions

Tell them you are just

Catching your breathe 

Looking into as many faces

As you can carry with you

Does it matter where you're going

As much as someone

Waiting for your return 

What's Next for Memory Valentine

If the evolution of memory so far

Falls into three long phases

Spatial musical temporal

Each of us given our own 

To sketch in the pictures 

Like footprints in the snow

We remember crossing our path

But don't let the future fool you

It says as it has done in the past

The future is buried

In a cemetery down the street 

From  us at any given time

The future comes like a tidal wave

And we are swept away 

Summer Ending Valentine

Let me presume to speak

For all the lives I've lived

When I say thank you

To all of you from all of us

Our annual summer reunion

Was brilliant even if

At times contentious 

Because because because

It went into the night

What life wants of us and

Would stars be enough 

Of an answer when we

Get back to earth

And our enormous lives 

No Pressure Valentine

I trust in the eternal fragments

Falling into my head like snow

Words I say falling asleep

I trust the darkness 

Will wind up comprehending

The light that wakes me

I think even in heaven

We need sleep no other

Way to dream this up

I trust you hear me

And already know

What's for supper

And have everything in hand

So it's all up to us 

Shoreward Valentine (for Dan)

Who hasn't succumbed yet

To something beautiful in their life

I mean completely taken with them 

Falling apart in a good way

Someone to behold 

Discarding our bearings

Prepared to risk it all

Who told you love

Isn't comical and frightening

Comical because you're in it

And frightening because

You sense its immensity

Swallowed and then coughed up

Over and over

Until you reach the shore 

By The Time Valentine

First you smell the rose

You try to take it all in

But it refuses to be summed up

Preferring to be painted

Then you turn away

And think about 

How it deals with time

The immense pressure

It's under to speak

Some comfort to us

Proof of what we once were

And promise of what

We promised to become

By the time the world is done 

What Did You Pay For It Valentine

On Antiques Roadshow

We saw the best watch

We have ever seen 

When you peer down 

Into its intimate workings

You can almost see

The cosmos whirling

The effect of the rubies

On the twenty-caret gold 

There are only a few of them

Left in existence

If we were to take it apart

To find out how it works

We would only destroy it

No matter how much you paid