If only I saw you

While dreaming

May I never wake again

And if only while awake

How but to find a way

To remain forever quick;

Such desperate ruminations

Best to sleep

And make the world

What we will

I caught a smile one day

On a hook i cast into this life

It tried to escape

With all of its might

Diving into the deep darkness

They have been so elusive of late

But in the end

We reeled it in

You and i

Watching it break the surface

Shining in the morning light

And I’m sure it would have escaped

If not for the effort

You put in with the net;

I hope we catch another one

Tomorrow.

The spruce trees

They look like they’re on a starting line

Waiting for the CRACK of a pistol

To race off across the Canadian shield;

It is the wild wind, we know

But to imagine them

Tense with anticipation

Ready to spring forward

And shoot toward the horizon

A flurry of needles and bark –

This is better i think

These green leaves

Stretching from the ash

They reach towards the sky

Designed to capture life

In the overarching light

That swings daily

Above its branches;

These unseen roots

They dig beneath my feet

Hunting for water

Growth seeks abundance

To fill its need

Life adapts

To soak in as much as it can

To do otherwise

Is not in nature

I remembering capturing a butterfly

As a child in a small net i found at home

A little white bag on a stick meant for fish

Orange and black and perfect

I put it in a jar with grass and leaves

Poked holes in the metal cap for air

Mum said –

You have to let it go Peter

It can’t stay there or it will die

I was angry but I knew the truth of it

So out i went… removed the lid

It flew away and i never did see it again

The right thing to do felt wrong

The right thing to do made me want to cry

But i do what I’m told

It has always been the way

The past is a dream

That no longer exists

And the future is unwritten

A journal of blank pages

Only the present exists

Every decision you’ve ever made

Is a mist burned away by the sun

Forget them all

No matter how good

Forget them all

No matter how terrible

All that matters

Is how you walk ahead

All that matters

Are the steps you take next

Journey wisely

I remember jumping from cliffs

For the first time in my life

The brilliance at the rush of air

Like fingers raking through my hair

How i could count to three (and a bit)

Before the smack of the water when I hit

And the feeling of my heart

Pounding like a taiko drum

I never wanted it to end

I never thought the newness

Would dare to leave my soul

Until i sucked the life out of it

Jumping again and again and again

All summer long

I think my poetry is like that,

It once sent people over the edge

Plunging intothe unknown;

But standing in front of a firehose

Wears thin after a while

Until eventually

You barely notice it’s there

Until you’re annoyed at how wet you are

Every time you walk by. 

I cast a shadow once

And it fell over my love

Consuming the sun;

And while i shouted

Here! I am here!

Standing in this light!

It hid them in darkness;

It’s so easy to forget

That some people’s glory

Is another’s broken story

And we must be careful

Where we place ourselves. 

I try not to think about

The vastness of what we are

In the midst of this boundless space

That somehow we’re here in this place

Instead of not

And there is abundance all around

These trees, these flowers, the grass

That I could lay in for hours

All so small

Within the endless confines

As to be nonexistent

Except for one thing –

We are aware of ourselves

Which makes us bigger than it all

It makes me sad to ponder

The significance of our insignificance

And i can smell the verdant life

That spins around me

Like a glorious eulogy to itself

In the face of an ever beginning

Ever ending universe;

What is the point of existing

In the face of oblivion

If not to consume everything

Before the end?

Berries cover oatmeal

In the bowl upon my lap

And coffee is perched precariously

Along this chair’s arm

A cool sunny morning

To survey the landscape of my life

Full as sparrow’s belly

As it gorges at the feeder

Little winged pig

Flies away beneath this

Tiffany blue sky