After the Rain

When I am having obscure feelings

When my neighbors start their monumental discussions

When you feel giddy

I hold the chairs with both hands

Plant my feet strongly

Breath deep and regular

The flood will recede

The forest will bloom again

I have been nudging my reluctant imagination

Offer alternatives, new ideas

Rare excursions to simplify playful musings

During all these days of rain

My memories are filled with orchids, mushrooms, migrating birds

Of intelligent fish and butterflies

Of praying mantis, of rabbits

I want allowances for distractions 

Without being detained, a few moments 

To clear my mind

The artistic practice to fail better

The waiting and unhurried way to find my shoes

And myself like a new beginning

I want to sing to you

Hike and dance our way

To the mountain.

These photos are taken from walk to the river during the last 3 days.

The present books I’m reading: Super-Infinte, The Transfomation of John Donne by Katherine Rundell

Shirley Hazzard, A Writing Life byBrigitta Olubas

How To Live or A Life of Montaigne by Sarh Bakewell

Splendor

She sits

Like a word 

On the riverbank

In silence

A new world

Of consequences

Other creatures, hidden

Watch her

Benevolent eyes

Like angels

Her mind, not oscillating

Or imagination, captured

Nothing breaks, not a stone

Or falls, not a leaf

They calmly accept her

Her being.

Even In This Condition

A holiday

at dawn 

I will plant a word

water it like a tree

one day

the forest will sing

I will read 

the written signatures

on the tree trunks

They will tell 

the ages of the passerby’s

they are imperceptible 

to storms and lightnings

raccoons and squirrels talk

their life stories

You can invite your friends

and listen to the songs

have some drinks and dance

It will not be one time

even in our condition.

We meet across

a giant chessboard in the plaza

We glance at each other 

I touch a piece

you move a pawn

a knight pirouettes

a bishop lifts

a game continues

a brilliant move, a clatter

then saving graces

movements in 64 squares

thousands and thousands

permutations, strategies and idea

subtle and suggestive

time enters, a heart beats faster

we look at each other’s eyes

Dazzle of butterflies and corals

the tree grows, a forest

of climate changes

Is this what love is?

Attentiveness

Succession of concrete images appear in my vision:

leaves covered walking path, a white magnolia flower, white as a pearl, 

and a cat like fur covered dog

are simultaneous colors painted like on a canvas

I am not dreaming is a first question

the object is to pay attention

like a sincere prayer

I have to listen, voices may follow

I have stop my walk

rest a while, slow down the heart rate,

have a drink of water, and observe

I do not plan a note or few lines of observation

There are no benches  to sit on

I do not visualize poetry

but I am excited.

Walking, one scientist says,

can spark imagination

Excitement can disturb the world

the future will not be ordinary anymore

I can measure my capacities

Things still undone

The precious things about uncertainties

Keep me thinking

I can discern the variations 

like the kites flying I saw one Saturday on a beach

I think of you and the different children we will have

after we get married

I am feeling an enduring exuberance

I might propose to you tomorrow.

notes:

Books I finished reading:

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf

The Archivist by Martha Cooley

Scenes In my walk to the river:

If winter comes

Snow on top of the trees

We can walk under it as if inside a cathedral

Our steps will mark a memory

But will melt with time

Unlike sorrow etched in the heart

Doesn’t completely fade away

But sadness and snow can be generous

If given time.

note: I am brushing up with my chess games.I am replaying a lot of games by the world chess champions.

Moments

there are moments

of infinite space

or exquisite beauty

Sunday morning

hummingbirds flying from every direction

a foggy morning

note: The book I am reading: such color, New and selected poems by Tracy K. Smith.

Confusion

I will be away

only for a few days

from confusion of mind and soul

riding the world’s common time

like a heart of a promise

to return consciously

one fragment at a time

like voices drifting, then silence

even ugliness 

can have a wonderful side

or imaginary digressions

of very small fulfillments 

to life’s most important things.

from my walk last week

from my walk last month while away

from my walk today

farewell

after she stands and leaves

I feel edges of her space

then her absence

note: Books I am reading: The Shepherd’s Life by James Rebanks and

The Magician by Colm Toibin.

Arise

Arise

dust off dreams from your eyes 

the foliage is changing colors

leaves are abundantly falling

birds are toeing ahead of me

You don’t have to move boulders to walk the dogs

Ladies walking in pairs smile as they wave

Lift the heaviness that anchors your mind

fisherman’s eyes rides the wake testing his passion

The boatman glances to the fisherman,

thinks what he is missing

Arise

walk, share your sweet time with others

or get the ladder and wash your windows

before mornings turn quickly into afternoons

Continuity

the living is living

not solitary

not making oneself interesting

strands of life and things

but interested