Cicada Vows

I burrowed deep
When darkness came
And I could not see
To find my own

I will not wake
Till light returns
Till then I’ll grow
In dream-rich sleep

And now I blink
And draw fresh breath
Though light be half
What I knew below

I’ll blare at green
While a new dark forms
And thrive as I can
Till it’s time to dive

Still Life with Woodcut, I Ching Mug, Murakami Novel, Milk Crate, Chair Arm, and Mounted Butterflies

You go up when you're supposed to go up and down when you're supposed to go down. When you're supposed to go up, find the highest tower and climb to the top. When you're supposed to go down, find the deepest well and go down to the bottom. When there's no flow, stay still. —Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Communities

...a deeply mysterious fact. You can know a thing to death and be for all purposes completely ignorant of it.
—Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

A Cold Melody

Tit for Tat
makes a cold melody:
You cherish me this
and in close harmony
I tender you that—

Heart’s true cadence we miss.

Refugee

G 11:4

The bigger the house the higher the heating bill
In an attic of Love they count their blessings
While a hundred floors down the gold furnace roars

Today

Keep a promise to yourself
Or be a friend to no soul
Caulk one leak in the roof
Or consign it to holes