#1

Once upon a time, the earth was flat in imagination.
The earliest man found the wheel; all touch and accident.
The later man found the curvature of the world; shadows and calculations.
This is the secret of existence:
   Life traces out in circles, revolutions and rotations spin into minutes,
      cycle into hours, spiral into years.
Living is circular, even when turned upside, it draws the same centripetal path.
A sphere spinning around and around to the rhythm of infinity,
   exfoliating and reincarnating,
      marching on and on and on….

#2

I have only seen my father cry twice.
His stance mute, while the air mixes with wails and words
   he makes speeches amongst sobbing
      “I’m sorry dad, I’m sorry…”  the rest cuts to wordless noise
      -loud, unbound, animal in pain.
Anguish is a heavy scent. Smoke to breathe in, burns on the tongue.
My grandfather died the day the baby had a 105 fever.
My grandmother has taught me to be superstitious.
And so I believe in Karma, that dreams are remnant flavors of ghosts.
   That the soul recreates.
Maybe now is when my baby brother gains a soul;
   when my grandfather dies, and my mother falters,
      when my father cries, and my grandmother sleeps alone.
I envision her small, sturdy body, standing over the broken back of the land
   and under the scarred belly of the sky.
Caught between heaven and ground, she is heartbreaking.

#3

The world is split into three echoes,
   Sky- land- water-
      Fins and fur and feathers.
Plumage brushes soft as hair against skin.
The mind’s eye sees fish turn to falcon
   at the instant where fins spread like wings.
Now what do you name a fish with feathers?
Our opposites are merely reflections,
   complementing, till they become components.

#4

For every piece of memory,
   there lies the whole of a person ever after.