April 1, 2023
riverside
excited to announce
on this day 11/26/22
my first published work
riverside
has been released
for your copy of riverside
or for lots more amazing works
by many other amazing artists
all to help end food insecurity
please visit
the one the only
betweenthehighway press
at
betweenthehighway.org
breath is present
news is flashing
breath is present
thought is spinning
breath is present
news flashes rolls scrolls
thoughts spin trip loop
about a moment, a memory, a worry
miles away, decades ago, days from now
inches away, hours from now, minutes ago
where is strength
to be right here
to deal, to see, to feel, to hear
without fear
for a space, a small place of mental calm
for human clarity in our human calamity
next breath
is right now
is right here
in now
out now
let thought come
let thought go
thoughts and thinking
now and present
breaths and breathing
deep and peaceful
free living cut
once living, once dead, once buried
once cycled
through a billion year’s pressure
down, into earth’s glowing heat
up, into cooling plate crust
chiseled out from kimberlite surrounding
cut and polish and carat’s pricing
armored display cases, global advertising
finally, shining, in a diamond
human, even brighter than all of that
is voting, being, loving, breathing
living freely
not made entirely of carbon
light flashing off the river through closed eyes
along the mississippi in minneapolis what i see is
bald eagles, gold eagles, buteos, falcons and crows
along the mississippi in minneapolis
mallards, wood ducks, woodpeckers, geese, sand pipers, blue herons
the song birds chorusing
over I-94 freeway’s hum
along the mississippi in minneapolis turtles, bass, carp and beavers
squirrels searching, dragon flies patrolling
along the mississippi in minneapolis in the summer
laughing, wading, and fishing
jogging, walking, biking, rolling
moving and breathing and flowing
canoes, kayakers, u of m row team rowing
motor boats towing
along the mississippi in minneapolis morning air pressing cold and heavy
against warm river surface rippling and getting misty
along the mississippi in minneapolis watching the sun rise
a hazy wildfire smoke in my lungs
watching the sun set
a melting orange hot sherbet sun
as sierra and cascade forests burn, as refrigerators and a.c.’s run
along the mississippi in minneapolis wind coming, better head in
shelf clouds, lightning, bow echoes, fog and pouring rain
frigid northern winds blowing snow across the ice
that spring cracks open again
along the mississippi in minneapolis in the winter
boot and paw prints frozen into shoreline
cross country ski marks up an incline
along the mississippi in minneapolis what i see is
autumn and i’m caught waiting for something profound
but the leaves keep falling down down down
green yellow gold red brown
along the mississippi in minneapolis plastic trash, plastic, trash
bits, pieces, chunks, shards, strands
beer cans and bottles and ripped hoodies covered in sand
along the mississippi in minneapolis beach encampments abandoned
made of blankets and sleeping bags hanging from branches
the person long gone but a human presence remaining
homeless on this beach, human what did you see
i hope you see what i see, the beauty
fire blankets for the general sherman
dome of life
please yes restore us
get us breathing with you
or there’s nothing for us
how we humans toil and roil, burn and boil
while giant sequoia trees just trying to breathe
gigantic thousand year old beings
and the earth just spinning, spinning, spinning
we can’t bear this dome of life
with a foundation of low wage misery
we won’t bear this dome of life
with self-as-center posts and beams
we’ll never bear this dome of life
when human suffering’s heavier than gravity
as every day the earth keeps spinning like
humans, get the job done
if you can’t there’s gonna be a problem
it’s just that we figured it out
we already know
how this atmospheric shelter above us glows and grows
solar, hydrous, terranean, gaseous
lattice of the living, bio-crystalline
pushing back, protecting us
from frigid interstellar darkness
what’s the use saying fuck this, we out
searching for a planet b that hasn’t been found
on a spaceship that hasn’t been built
like an excuse for the earth we killed
no use pretending ignorance about why the blue sky’s blue
as if we’re all dumb beasts slobbering helpless at the feast
blaming mother nature for our dis-ease
as every hour the earth keeps spinning like
humans, what’s the problem?
nature’s gonna find someone else if you can’t get the job done
every moment every living being
bears the weight and creates the dome of life
we humanity can be the dominant apex species
the boss, the manager, an architect, a protector
the farmer, the shepherd
or humanity can be just another life form laid to rest
we came, we went, it was sorta fun, the end
but humanity cannot be both a savior and a failure
trying to save ourselves by failing everything else
like a parasite asking it’s host “hey you ok with dying?”
“i am the most powerful, intelligent species, made in the image of god
i have providence and dominion over all the earth has to offer
all the flora, all the fauna
i will plow and dig and cut and burn and stake and take what is mine at will and…
oh oh, but wait, wait, i’m supposed to handle
decisions, responsibilities and management like the top species granted dominion?
no no, remember, i’m just a dumb animal, a poor helpless beast
can’t think, nothing but instinct, not my job, don’t ask me, i lost the keys”
i own a car, my freakin’ lights work
every day this writer lives with, works with, uses, employs hydrocarbons
i’m human, most definitely not perfect
but is the future really to be found in regression and aversion
living perfectly in a cave with nothing
like some holier-than-thou judgement
demanding others change their lives
before they’ve even changed their minds
or opening views that are frozen and closed in
raging with blame, or engaging them to change
hey, you’re the captain, are you ok with sinking?
as every minute the earth keeps spinning like
humans, just get the job done
nature’s hiring someone else if you’re gonna be the problem
we will build, push up, sustain this dome of life
with buttresses of shared reality
all compressions, all tensions, all the weight
all the problems, all the solutions
born by a living structure of different beings
different beings inches away from you
thousands of miles away from me
connecting sustaining growing giving taking thriving
we will build, push up, sustain this dome of life
with questions big enough
with math big enough
frickin’ screens big enough
calculations, engineering, technology, data sets, models
answers
big enough
for all the life of life on earth
we will build, push up, sustain this dome of life
with rhythms of breathing
one breathes out what
another breathes in
as every second the earth keeps spinning, spinning, spinning
and we work out who’s to blame
or we work together and get the job done
for the park rangers of sequoia and kings canyon national parks
for what william shatner had to say
before being interrupted by champagne
about the view of earth from above
laughing water
this drought year you’re a torrent over the falls
or you’re nothing at all
so dependent on the rain fall
but it doesn’t matter
i’ve noticed how many are happy when they’re here
dogs and kids scampering
couples conked out on your lawns napping
i like to hit your beer garden
sit on the steps and be with it
then i take a walk
i step down all the steps
to your creek and walk along in the lush green
still lush even though the creek is drying up again
all the accents from all over america
and languages from all over the world
i hear being spoken as i’m walking
one day you’re dry
not rapid water, not minnehaha
just a limestone cliff
and creek just slow
ever shrinking puddles
full of crawdads and minnows
trying to make it through
a few more days then thunderstorms
followed by soaking rains
and look how you change
roaring now
cooled from the falls
once more all the way down to the Mississippi
on a hot fall day
a blue heron stalks silently through your flows
ducks dutifully straining
their beaks snipping and snapping
right where you disappear
into the big river
where people bring something to sit on
and start fishing
once more kids playing in your currents
like it doesn’t matter
like nothing
no language is in their way
if you caught in the act out
heat flow 