Mmm! I BURN

What to Look for During a Season of Sickness

can it be found
can it be lost

the self
the highest sense

for a moment
you can play

pretend that
you are separated

but in the
long view

you were
merely at play

like a child
can make

anything a
harmless idyll


77777

a winter jacket ordered
for winter boots

pockets on the inside
and outside of jacket

the lake has ice
that ebbs a bit but grows

when it seems
nothing is alive

some hardy squirrels
start their day

they go on duty
find things to bring home


000

Bass Lake

if you could live forever
you'd be even more confused
than you are now



11

today no snow
no grey

silver puddles
green grass

everything living
making life

shining

with only now
in mind


---

Bass Lake

after much practice
i see what i really am

two hands two feet
two eyes and a big mouth



&&

how do your dreams turn out
as good as dreaming them i hope

when you know where you are
every dream comes true

when you're in the stream
all that comes is keenly true


!!

Bass Lake

day after thanksgiving
slate grey sky

water goes drip drip
from balconies

new wiper blades
for the truck

a few clumps of snow
rolled by my son

they're the only snow
left as a snowman

snow figure
looks like a bunny


000

Bass Lake

thankful on this day

thankful on this day
snow slush
a store being open
for that last can
of yams or pie crust

thankful for family
friends and even
bad drivers or
my annoying cousins

we're all part
of a grand planned
or miraculous wow
just in time ain't
it nice thank-
goodness


11.24.16

A Recipe for Orange Sweet Potatoes

2 twelve ounce cans of frozen orange juice 1 forty ounce can of cut sweet potatoes in light syrup 1/4 cup dry sherry 2 cups walnuts (whole or broken into halves) Oven preheated to 350 degrees Open the sweet potato can and drain the liquid from the sweet potatoes. Put the potatoes in a glass baking dish (I used a dish that was 14 inches by 10 inches) in one even layer. Then pour over the potatoes the two cans of frozen orange juice. If the orange juice is still frozen, or semi-frozen, just let the orange juice melt over the sweet potatoes. Add 1/4 cup dry sherry and mix in the 2 cups of walnuts. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and let it marinate for at least an hour, longer if you want the walnuts to be softer. You can either stick it in the fridge, or just leave it out at room temperature. After marinating, take off the plastic wrap and cover the dish with aluminum foil. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. While baking, see if the liquid covering the sweet potatoes is bubbling. Then they are done. Watch out, the dish is very hot when it comes out of the oven. Serves 4-6 depending on how much they like sweet potatoes. I keep asking my mom for this recipe every Thanksgiving and Christmas the past few years, so I figure if I put it up here, I'll have it when I need it for Christmas dinner. I know if I don't have this dish at Thanksgiving, I won't feel like I had Thanksgiving at all.

danny
he's on the hill

loves the snow

i see his silhouette
as he has a fine time

living in a rich
imaginary world

conquering a frozen peak
or making snow fort

when he sees my
shape in the window

he figures i'm
saying hello & waves

i wave back
when i'm really worried

something
might happen to him

as if life was a terrible
series of events

because it is not
i know this in my heart

snowy night is
a sparking wonder world

full of magic
that conquers all care

even from this
worrisome mind


77

Bass Lake

mind does not wander
scenery in a globe of snow

the consciousness free
unworried

we count flakes
until satisfied

this snow was always here
will be forever


---

Bass Lake

a dream of dreams do you have

a dream of dreams do you have
don't trade it in for anything less
or cheapen it with just or no

if it is a good one
you'll be sorely tested
then eventually changed

you'll become
both subject and object
you will be the dream aware

and as that dream realized
you'll be able to see the hope
of other dreamers

you'll realize they can see
who think they cannot see

you'll understand
those unknowing do know

then be like a light to them
even cry a tear or two
which be like

a stairway to heaven

00

Snowy Day

11/22/16

snow has no memory
it falls swiftly
and is

the night has no regrets

glittering snowflakes
from so high up
billow and fly

dance and then land

a warm room
a fire and a book
the radio murmuring

chapter ended

a beautiful night


----

Bass Lake

a poem in a paper boat
is not different than anything else

but suffice to say
you had everything else

then was smashed

the most beloved thing
i could ever give

a poem in a paper boat




*

i have no refuge here
in this temporary
sweet affair

not in my heart
nor even in you

we're the same this way
no place to call home
no certainty

only in letting go
into bright emptiness
do i know

there isn't even any time
or any unfinished business

there is no separation
or sense of being apart

but still i want refuge
in this temporary
sweet affair

in your heart
in you




**

the heart travels far
which is lovely

nice to have it be free

if it travels too far
into memory

this can be sad

it be trained
ironed or discouraged

even sadder



**

my soul is great for its emptiness
before anything was created
from a beginningless beginning
not for how many stuffed armchairs
my ass sat in

my soul is known by its serenity
bright calm and clear
from a time without knowing or mind
not for my special personality
and wit

my soul cannot be organized at all
it was never unknowable
any move otherwise is a distraction
when i recognize this
no fear

no sorrow

**

crossing a field of flowers
or cutting wood just to be different
believing you are in the sound of god
building a house in the desert

the closets are big
they walk on the floor heavily
imagine living here with tall ceilings
and polite neighbors

memory comes and goes
do you remember the music
crossing the fence or making kindling
a night sky with one billion stars

don't know where we end up
for some time we can see with no body
feel with no thinking and hold with no hands
with perfect clarity as never before

but even this does not last
one eternity slips from another

sigh

higher and higher you fly
with no going down
back at last home



**

For Leonard Cohen

be happy on any day
for yourself from yourself

the best gift ever had
you've accepted from you

a person who might not be
the tallest or the strongest
the cleverest or cruel

rather the best for now
wrought from faith and hope

work and promise
loss and gain

happiness and beauty
on this day


===

11.12

yellow and black

stand in line for two hours
early voting

then outside
i encounter a splendid tree

bright yellow maple leaves
a black trunk

so perfect
lamentation does not exist

i take off
my hat and just look and look

what a thing to see

yellow and black



----

November 5th
Maple Grove