night lake diving

freshly skinny white

leaping from the storm

the 2AM moonlight

fractures with the impact

the rocks below 

clarified by the 

glacial melt

jagged but deep enough

for divers and explorers

escaping ennui and malaise

 

on the shore bobbing over rocks

shook freed from constraints

the absence reveals

no barriers for the lubricious and clumsy 

emerging from the cold

to stumble on the wretched shore

where bullets won’t start a fire

only tinder and a spark

is all i can stammer

bay of flashing darters

Sailboats carving patterns

darters into waves which 

don’t seem to mind

Leaning over sideways

to control both power and time

 

Flocking into clusters

brushing past the buoys

like galaxies swirling 

spun by translucent kite-strings

Leaving tracers to catch a gaze

 

the stone mason

experiment invites 

me and strangers to rest awhile

only at lowtide when the waves release

a rusted boxspring fence and

gives way to me, the barnacles

and the bay of flashing darters 

handy for crabbing

The dock extends further

to make the crabs easier 

to capture

Waiting at Jericho

Green hulled sleeper

lulls along the darters

and sunnyday foghorn

Sailors waiting

papers aren’t order

sandwiches and waiting

waiting, watching

for the crackled word

we’re moving out

porch supper briefly

palm frond palypa

red snapper grill marked

smoking peppers 

rolled with twigs

Mexican word for hammer and nails

buying the claw hammer in bucerias

i learned 2 spanish words in advance

the boy, 14-ish shaggy haired

“do you need nails?”

“no just the hammer” 

learning the preferred Mexican term 

entirely different and dissonant

and unnecessary to the situation 

“you sold me tacks yesterday”

as though he’d care

 

considered like a bleeding toe

in a sandy crab pinch and attached 

to the words of nails and canvas

start of something

exquisite with the dignity of 

elegance and restraint

teasing out the extravagance

of innocence and youth

the wrong change again

each time laughing at

super mini

mary paz

3 avocados

and sack of 

dark beers

mango, rollies

spreading change

taking three times to 

count it wrong

leaning forward now

you lean forward

thick blades arch and thrust

you collared to the clouds

dappling your supple shadows

graceful valleys

no secrets

only tales to distract

away

my constant gaze

and eager intentions

i’ve seen the pathway (tired traveler)

i’ve seen the pathway
tis cobbled rocky and twisted
arranged enough to confuse
and mislead
but it leads
to the finest lands
you’ve ever dreamed

if you manage to stand
and can navigate by orion
you’ll arrive in the bay
left by bandits, fishers and seers
where abundance and tranquillity await
so replenish your weighted mind
tired traveler
and soak in the nectar of another
delirious day