Winter Forest

Visiting Dad’s grave yesterday, I had a strong sense of his absence amid the fundamental indifference of nature.

Coyote Winter

When I stand up, I see the large coyote that’s been watching me—who knows for how long—from 50 feet away.

If I were a tree, head-down in the earth, I’d stretch one toe into the clouds.

[haibun]
snow-bound trees
I’d like to die
on my feet

[haibun]
teethmarks
on the trail sign…
my last sip of tea

From time to time a flash of panic, as if I’ve forgotten something — but I can’t think what.

missing mountaintop
in the pit
of my stomach

I was trying to find another world. It was right here all along.

hunter’s cap
a bell-like sound
from the raven’s throat

You can see farther this time of year because there’s so much less to see.

ridgetop wind
speaking in the voice
of a raven

When I was a Buddha, my radiant body rang like a bell.

a gall wasp’s
empty oak apple
gone to seed

we saw for the first time what a complete absence of nuance would look like. How irresistible it would be.

insomniac eyelids on strike for overtime

Trying to find the words for a rock oak on the mountainside…

holding its children up
to the sun