What the Forest Has to Say to Me

once again,
to the singing creek
with paper and pen
my breath
rises and falls
more steadily
as i take my seat,

listening,
listening

i become very still
and notice only
the movement around me
my eye is drawn
to leaf,
to bird,
to web,
to moth,
to bee

listening, listening

i let my vision
lose focus, go soft around
the edges
as i listen for what i hear

the creek,
water over stone
dripping, flowing, smoothing
soothing me
a bee,
circling

my dog's tags,
somewhere nearby
in the distance
as he no-doubtedly leaps, exploring
still within reach

now raven's calling, deep
and throaty
and i think
about the naming of things

unexpectedly
my voice tumbles out of me
and i feel
the resonance in my chest
and hear the
echo back from the trees

i sing to the forest, again
uninhibitedly
my heart cracking
open in my chest
my breath
settling deeper
into my
belly

sing your breath,
when you breathe,
the
water whispers to me

feeling.

listening, listening

my body rocks,
hips rolling
side to side
opening, releasing, I
breathe into them
imagining the vast space
of possibility-

release.

listening, listening

heart thumps.
that cracked open place, oh yes
i move
there
with my breath
i let the tears come,
and they come
so quickly-
right below the surface,
waiting
i give them over to
the creek, who willingly
recieves me.
she
seems to say,
give them here, Child,
again and again,
as many times as need be

i imagine my tears
flowing
down the creek
growing to the stream
joining with the river
flowing out to the sea

that vast and wild
Ocean Mother, She,
who my tears taste of
She,
who responds to the moon, as i
gently cycling,
re-cycling
She who knows the ebb, the flow
of tides
her wild, crashing, joyous
waves,
that move
like my pain-
i feel them wash over me,
and away
wash over me, and away~

i open my eyes
and notice the rain

i stand up, abruptly
moving to leave-
and the hem of my
paiyaso pants
catches a nail and i land, Thump!
on my butt again
outright and unexpected
down again
as quickly as i had risen up
i think,
i guess not!

my laughter shakes the trees

i lay back
on the two-plank bridge
to see what else
the forest has to say to me

i look up to the sky,
and watch the rain drops fall to earth
fresh water mixes
with salt
and i let the rain cleanse the sorrow from my face
washing this releasing~
cleansing,
healing

o! let the day begin anew again,

listening,
listening.

Progress

couple of weeks ago i
went for a hike
down
by the singing creek
and saw a pollywog,
who reminded me that-

transformation
is an awkward thing

back again, today
by that sweet, cleansing
water
and there, again
my friend-
four-legged this time
he swam by
still at full-tail throttle-
but closer,
one step
closer,
to his
unknowable,
unknown
form

Lost and Found

I stop
and take stock
of this re-clamation scene

I am re-membering
my Life,
piece by piece

I am peeling back
layers
of years
of skins
of lifetimes of hiding
protections
long past needed,
silences, melting

invisibility
only binds you

and it is only in my re-vealing
that i can discover
how
Big
I Am

and so
I will greet my Life grinning-
humbly,
gratefully,
knowing

that whatever comes
is Teacher.