h a i k u 6

In our history

truly where would the poor be

without the wealthy

h a i k u 5

Shimmering light is

absent without the shadow's

willingness to dance

Kissing Paul

I am perplexed

by this figure cut in rock

the marbled morality

the conservative touchstone

I run my fingers

over the cracks in the stone

and feel a warm breath

escaping the fissures

TAKE A SLEDGEHAMMER TO IT

Liberate the man

from the bondage

of controlling boondoggle

of deified domination

of fearful veneration

Arise Paul

from the tomb

of dusty imaginations

and dirt dry passions

Arise and enter my room

sit stay and talk a while

I am surprised

by Paul's passionate kiss

surprised by the exchange

of breath

and spirit

I had forgotten your doubts and pain

the thorn in your side

the pain of your fragile soul

unable to control your

mysterious urges

What warm body did you confide in

who did you embrace

who did you cling to

in the agony of your humanity

Who kissed you

returning the smile

to your Apostolic face

Who granted you the blessing of fragility

of finding God in our fragility

who reminded you

again in your anger

your despair and sorrow

Who in the body of Christ

touched your body in Christ

Who taught you the mystical kiss

we now share

Who reminded you

that the greatest of all things

is Love

One

Sitting in the dark

on cold brick steps

sitting in the dark

in empty silence

the night breathes

in and out

its trembling breath

Flickering through

the dark green canopy above

is the moon

of the fall

through the leaves

the moon is winking at me

from her empty core of secrets

She is blue white

she is full and hollow

The silence of the night

echos the empty silence

within me

We listen to one another

for whispered awareness

the longing recognition

of sighing persistence

I breathe out

myself into the

moon-cast shadows

In every breath

I pour out countless

molecules of me

Every breath in

is breathing the cosmos into my lungs

and all that exist before it

Every breath in carries the taste of eternity

all that is less than me and more

I am less than dust

awaiting rapturous fulfillment in nothing

into one