When the sun comes up
I see what it does to a day
Making it sparkle.
And I and my bike
Roll on two wheels
On a quiet morning
In a shimmering summer
Without speed
No need for speed
Surrounded by heaven on earth
Down the spoked streets of my spoked city
Into the hub
I go rolling
Roll roll pedal pedal
Then roll and roll

And roll some more
Over shadow and sun
Under tree and sky
Pedaling and rolling

Hands free
The balance of memory
May keep me from falling
From losing an eye
From breaking my face
I ride like I'm twelve

©  Armell

What are the chances for one last barefooted summer?

None really but I’d like to imagine the full 90 

Enough days to prepare my feet to meet their maker

To walk thru the pearly gates

Shoeless and strongly calloused

That’d be my choice

In case the sands in heaven were just a bit hot

And the trails were topped with large uneven boulders

Honor the living

The dead are done

Where war wages 

None are won

Victory in life is in waking fearless

And sleeping well and learning.

Honor the living to honor the dead 

Forsake the magic stories of stars

And the bitter legacy of scars

And the songs of them and us

And the science of accumulating numbers.

Profit from peace and clean waters.

A lump of life all wiggly with giggles

A rhythm of bending knees and bouncing legs

My daughter repeats her own song

And shakes my bed

My pillowed head

And wakes me up

Not from the dead

But from their solitude

© Armell   

The river’s in a roar

The roar stays loudly in place

While the town

Yes the town

The very place

That never moves

Rushes by in bits and bursts

Of brick and mortar

And mortality is assaulted

By its very nature

In quite an extraordinary show

Of fast and dark power

Flooding out the expectations

Of a normal day……

Oh tragedy

Put me with a stranger

For a second or sixty

Let’s share a nod or smile

Agree to the beauty of the day

Or how Spring comes so late

Even with a higher sun

Let our meeting last

For however long

Then moving on

I’ll know again

The gift of wakefulness

And the glory

Of standing

On two feet

Erectus,

Sapien,

 © Armell 

Here it is

Morning

On a pond

To the East

Here it is

Time

In the form of a day

Here it is light

Reflecting away

The blue in sky

The green in evergreen

Earth brown and red

Rock white

Here it is cold as a morning can be

Because of the month and in spite of the light

I listen with the patience of trees

To all the sounds around and about me

Things singing dropping jumping scraping springing

Waving rippling rustling humming humming humming

I listen to things being and their passing.

© Armell

Wow, look at you

All full from a child’s life

Adding more and more

Now big as a man or a woman

Brave as a stargazer

Child of the comet

Breathing life from its tail

A trail of stuff ending as

Wow, look at you!

© Armell

Winter’s long over

I’d thought

Before this new snow fell

But I was forgiving

Because it was light

And easy to the eye

And memory tells me

It will be gone

The Spring sun’s time has come

Its will be done.

.

© Armell 2009

I stepped loudly

And the cat ran off

Hips weaving

Not a  straight line runner

Knowing well its way across the grass

Avoiding the ants and prickly seeds

A bouncy trot full of confidence

With a purpose as simple as

Stopping for a different view.

© Armell 2009

I want to ponder longer

Long long pondering

Wondering about wonder

A capacity as clear as day

In young Sami’s eyes

Before he spoke

And just after he knew he was singular

If I watch you hard and long

Unblinking, steady as a stare

I can actually see you move

Nearly full in a rock blue sky

Inch by inch filling gaps in the tree tops

You rise to light the dark

And I,

Nothing but head and heart for a month or more

All full of thought and desire

Must learn again to stand

To wake this mass of sleeping muscle

To walk and even dance

Under the moon and into tomorrow.

You are all cake, my honey

Moist and firm just enough

Sweet to the lips

I could take you whole

As you hold on to me

Separate joys

In our entirety

I become the boy

And you the girl

Of then

And when

And always.

© Armell

Don’t put a name on me

Of man or woman

Or even humanity

God or star

Unthing me

And I you

To walk unlocked

And noun ourselves no more.

© Armell                   

Should I desire more than fire needs air

Than the sea needs sunlight

Or than ice needs a temperature

They get what they need

All without desire

There wasn’t a wind in Delhi that day

When currents from the hot earth

Caused the leaves to sway

So relentless the heat

So motionless I sat

So vague seemed the figures

That passed thru the park

Dry vapors of dust

Filled the air at noon

A bit past thirty I was

And just days til full moon.

© Armell