JULY
ONE SAN RAMON, OUR SAN RAMON
Every day, I step outside under the blue-black sky of early morning
Bare feet, cold concrete
The local paper waiting silently
Flung there by some mysterious unseen hand
I pause to look above,
Count the stars, name the ones I know,
Polaris, Ursa, Orion
And whisper a grateful thanks to the ever-present moon
Changing shape each night as it dances across this winter sky
How lucky we are to live in this valley
In the shadow of Mount Diablo
Where pioneers and farmers and family men
stopped to plant and build and grow
Laying the foundation for this time and this place we love
This place we know as home
Home to tenth-generation Californians, and next generation citizens
All united in our love of this place
Quality schools, welcoming churches and a cathedral of fresh air
Here we give thanks for plentiful parks and fields and miles of trails,
Rushing streams that appear after big rains,
and hillsides flecked with wildflowers and families
We worship light poles dotted with sentry-like hawks
Shady-treed medians and wide-open spaces
festivals and fireworks and farmer’s markets
places to greet and gather and return to often
reminding us all of our shared sense of pride
Our community and commitment
Our San Ramon, One San Ramon
Home
AUGUST
TUESDAY
I woke to the smell of coffee
And the realization
Again
That you are not of this world
No longer of this World
I write down memories
I say your name
I study birds in the morning sky
In the hope I can keep you alive.
Already you are fading
Disappearing
Day turns to deep dark night
And my brother asks for signs
I only ask for answers
What is permanent? What is real?
SEPTEMBER
HAIKU IN THE QUAD
Culturefest at school
Rock with an Indian beat
Girls sing in saris
OCTOBER
SKYLIGHT
I turn a corner
The sudden shock of the moon
Overpowering a just darkened sky
This October night
Insistent
through closed shutter slats
No denying its pull
Heart rising with the fall
I cannot sleep
The moon will be here, always still
A permanent fixture
in this transitory life
NOVEMBER
WAKE UP CALL
The routine sameness of the drive to work.
Sorting through the day ahead.
This, then that, this, then that
Next to me, great blue heron
Gliding along, matching me mile for mile
Startles me back into a bigger life, waiting.
DECEMBER
NEW AGE, FACEBOOK PAGE
Cave paintings, smoke signals, writing in the sand
Throughout the ages, across the miles,
From heart to heart and hand to hand
The world grows close, the world expands
On foot, on horseback and by air, Today through cyberspace Connect.
Respond. Network. Brag.
The medium is the message, and the message is clear.
Is anybody listening?
Does anybody care?
Here in this moment, we proclaim we're alive
You have something to say, I've got something to share
The human connection, so deep and so true
Now digitally keeps me tethered to you
JANUARY
JANUARY RAINS
An arsenal of clouds
Rolling strong across
This winter sky
Gun-metal grey and angry
We've been waiting for this, poised and ready
Supplicant
Saving the rinse water
Letting the flowers go
A penance for our excesses
FEBRUARY
SKY FOR LUNCH
Heart centered day today
Rouses me from stacks and lists
Rising from my desk I turn
And detour out the door
Aged all-knowing treebark face
Winks with grace and praise
......Lunch today is a piece of sky
Served cool and iridescent blue
Nourishment for my soul and self
Carried swift along rain-glutted creek
........Changed, Still, Present, New
MARCH
INTO THE RAIN
Safeway parking lot
early morning, almost light
lone duck waddle-wanders
between the lines
across the vast,
through sudden puddles -
aimless and unhurried
while we rush past
APRIL
NATURE STORY
These soft April hills
will soon lose their green to dry and dusty brown
Today we watch the lavender
and mustard
and dancing daffodils
spread wild along the path of pioneers
whose histories bloom each spring
MAY
MAY DAY
Today’s walk
littered with
last night’s windstorm
brittle branches
broken, orphaned here along the pavement
helplessly still
this still May morning
Across my vision like
a silent movie, a slow moving dreamscape
doe in flight, scattered heaps, swoop of wings
Once we carried buds to Mary
twirled around her maypole arms
Once you brought me tiny flowers
promising a lifetime still,
life unfolding, hour by hour
day by day, May by May