Sometimes, I’m in the jungle tripping over vines, shoving my way through bushes, looking for a path, wondering if there is one and asking with every breath, where am I? Other times I’m an eagle high above the trees soaring over lakes, my heart filled with sky, my eyes searching for the nourishment I need, wanting to dive deep into dark pools. Sometimes I’m with the stars, in orbit, far away, a point of light, my voice com...

I wonder where you are Why are you not listening Why have you gone to the place Where my words are not heard? Does it mean so little to you That I have something to say Are my verbal thoughts Unimportant? The place you have gone Does not allow me in My opinions Are not welcome I wonder why you left me Alone to think aloud Only to return When I'm silent Do my words hurt you Do you feel pain Or do you just Not understand Yo...

I watch them bow again, on their knees, facing Mecca. Bony cheeks. Ribs. Their bare feet, calloused. I face Mecca, too, but the glare of the sun, or the heat, or the water, or the dirty pier does not let me see in that direction. And so I turn and watch them pray, like their fathers, mumbling to themselves as if centuries hadn’t passed while in my mind the ship’s horn screams at noon.

At night, sailing through the dark, I’d lie awake hearing the wind howl and the water break and pound against the ship and there, lying on my back, looking up into the dark, I’d listen to the night above me, sighing restlessly, while the stillness, stark and jagged, made my breathing fall and rise like waves swelling under moonless skies. I’d lie there, rolling like the ship--no course, no star, no way to steer, no way to...

 Good morning stars--again our orbits crossand I see your worldshigh above my life, my eyes touching youmillions of miles awaywhere we meet each dawn, your burning worlds swirling,though some are embers nowburnt out light years ago,a state I cannot knowsince news travels slowly across the universe,and yet, your fire in my eyes pulls me towards your glow,and makes mewonder am I with youhigh above my life?Are you burning in...

I sit here every dawn because I do, and I keep the fire going because I want the warmth. I eat a piece of toast because I’m hungry and look up at the morning star because it’s there.I listen to my heart because it’s beating and it’s quiet in the stillness of this room. I take a breath because I want the air and cannot stop what enters me with every breath-- these thoughts, these memories, these longings that swirl in me b...

What if everything I did was wrong—blunder after blunder—who I married, how I raised my children, what I chose to do instead of something else,what I could have said but didn’t?What if I always missed the pointand thought I understoodand went this way instead of that,following what I thought was right—my passion, my dreams, my sweatsweeping me along as if guided by a star?What if thinking I was wise and finding I was fool...

When Dusk comes through the sky,her grey cape flowingfrom her back,she dims the dayand in the twilight air,the red clouds lowagainst the western sky,she brings the nightand sprinkles you, Dear Stars,as far as she can throw.Some say the night was oncea black-winged birdwho swallowed dayas if it were a wormand in the sky she’d lay a silver eggwe call the moon.Who knows what tale explains,for sure, how we,along with all the...

Went for a walk last nightStopped to look at the stars and thoughtI wonder is there a girl out thereSomewhere looking at the starswondering about me as I am about her?I wonderWhere can she be, this girl everyone Says is meant for meStaring up at the sky I wonder Is she thinking 'bout me?Is her heart and mind wonderingWhere in this great big small world I am hiding?I wonder where can she be?I have an emptiness in my heart...