Clutter where I grew up skies are big the foreground is small the horizons are vast and the only times away from home that ever felt like this part of home were the many times looking west into the ocean while leaning against the end rails of Pacific piers and thanking God that there was nothing to see but seeing every once in awhile even where i now live i leave the valley and find my way south and west enough that i can see the seeing and be with out clutter i suppose this is what writing poems is

Excerpt: "imagine a day

when

and

where

you don’t have

to beat

your heart

and

breathe

your breath

and give the birds their song

and rise upon this world

wait

that day is today"

Outside In from outside in and across the way light finds a place i hadn’t seen now seeing from inside out the same light casts shadows onto spaces and places that go unnoticed on a usual morning walk through this room only noticed this morning as the light drew my eyes into focus afforded only by the darkness surrounding it i hear, “what would it be if all were the same?” how exquisite the subject of light that borrows its place from the darkness surrounding it and how this moment often brings praise to one subject without a hint of

Excerpt: "i wonder at how the sight of new life

and the warmth

of the late-evening

sun

on longer days

can inspire childlike delight

and a sense of longing and loss

in the distance of just one breath"

Excerpt: "I don’t need my body involved here.

There is no clear and present danger.

My body can relax. My mind can relax.

Observe the emotion, the feeling, or the belief.

Feel the emotion, the feeling, or the belief.

Acknowledge the emotion, the feeling, or the belief as it is.

Accept the emotion, the feeling, or the belief as it is."

Excerpt: "

As I have come back online with vocational life over the past 3 or so years, “just show up” has been one of my mantras.

I don’t have to show off to show up. I just need to show up. If at all possible, I show up with what I have to give.

I can’t remember if it’s 100% of what I used to be able to give because there are significant swaths of life that I just don’t remember.

And who is it who is figuring out and deciding the outgoing percentages, anyway?

Who decides what 100% looks like?

It’s obviously an inside job, but even then there are quite a few voices that would like to weigh in on the matter.

So, I just don’t listen to any of them when they start doing math with my mantra.

I just show up.

As I am.

As I can."

Excerpt: "When I noticed myself trying to peek into the future to see if I could find a time when I could relax, I realized that I was giving myself over to an old way of being with life.

A way that sort of waits to live, waits to enjoy, waits to relax, waits to be satisfied, waits to feel like everything is okay.

A way that is constantly setting the table for a meal that we never actually sit down to eat.

We just keep setting the table.

So, when I caught myself in this reactive cycle of waiting to be present until a set of pre-described and self-determined circumstances are met, I was most of the way back Here."

Excerpt: "I spent a lot of time over the last few weeks dreaming about different approaches and ideas and finally, earlier today, I decided to use the last bits of our old fence, a bit of bailing wire, and a 10’ 2x4 to create an accordion-like “wall” above the fence that can be raised and lowered as preferred.

I’ve never seen anything like what I built.

I just figured out what I could make with the materials I had on hand. 


For me, this is so much more fun than going out and buying all sorts of supplies.

In fact, I think I just like re-using things because it simplifies what I can do. I don’t have to think about nearly as many options because most of them are not going to work with what I have to work with."

Excerpt: "As a general rule, humans put their trust in two areas in which they are all utter failures.

The first: We think we know what we should actually worry about.

The second: We think that the way we see things is actually the way that things are."

Excerpt: "The body relaxed more, the sensations of relaxation moved through the body.

And then, when ready, I inhaled.

I did 4 sets of these.

On the third set, I held my breath for 4 minutes and 4 seconds. My longest ever hold.

By the end of the fourth, I could breathe freely through both nostrils and I felt alive and vibrant. I recorded another video of my breathing. The difference in the before and after videos is quite amazing."