Made in Cosmos

Poems

I prayed for language
To sing out loud this joy confusion 
And bliss

Now I’m back here
And words don’t make any sense

Why of all things I chose language
I have no idea

  • Humbled

    I am
    But a seed

    What grows out of me
    Wasn’t mine
    To choose

    Entire Universes
    Flow through me
    From the Source

    No more belonging to me
    Than a teacup
    Contains the river

    Each time
    I get to die a little bit
    And surrender

    Each time
    I am humbled

    By my own creation

    ***

    Illustration by Deborah Koff-Chapin

  • Wide open

    I’ve cut through
    My breastplate
    Wide open

    Trembling for what
    Happens next

    Cosmic rays
    Bursted from our
    Naked hearts
    As you joined me

    Shattering the veil
    Between us
    And the Other

    Even the pine trees
    Wept

    At the opening
    In the fabric
    Of spacetime

  • Loweliest places

    Sometimes you got to
    Let the water cascade
    To the
    Loweliest places

    Watch it clear
    As the dirt
    Settles down
    At the bottom

    And stay there
    Satisfied
    With the mud
    And the low

    Even salmons
    Go upstream
    Only when
    The time is right

  • Let’s grow together

    Let’s
    Grow together

    Till our roots
    And branches

    Are all tangled in
    The loveliest mess

    Let’s
    Reach out up high

    Embrace lift push
    And pull each other

    In this
    Infinite play

    Let’s
    Never stop dancing

    For as long as
    There is breath in us

    There can be dance

  • The Gift

    I brought you a plate of
    Interstellar space

    Pregnant and teeming
    With possibilities

    The harder I tried to
    Circle it with words

    The harder my gift
    Appears to be seen

    Look

    I’ll just stand here with you
    Empty handed

    And wait for the reality
    To crack

    Where it wants

  • Somewhere else

    You picked
    A butterfly
    Apart

    Ran a hundred tests
    Under the best
    Microscopes

    Rolled it round
    A few times
    In centrifuges

    And now you’re telling me
    You figured

    What life is all about

    Mate
    This thing
    You’re studying here

    Is dead
    Already

    Life

    Is entirely
    Somewhere else

  • Goodbye already

    So you had
    A flash of truth

    Great

    Smile at her
    With gratitude

    And then hug her
    Goodbye already

    To create space
    For more

    Whatever you think
    You understand

    Is not the thing
    You’re looking for

  • Suddenly galaxies

    I like your poems you said
    But why there’s always some

    Suddenly galaxies

    Isn’t life enough
    To write about

    Well

    You know
    That’s life for me

    We’re trying to
    Eat lunch together

    And then there’s some
    Suddenly galaxies

    And then I don’t know
    Who I am

    Or what’s going on
    Anymore

  • Jungle drum

    Take off your shoes
    And expectations

    Let your hair
    And baggage down

    The jungle drum will guide you

    You and I
    The fire
    And the night

    The fine sand humming softly
    Under our feet

    The city lights
    Winking to the rhythm
    From afar

    We’re all in this together

  • Disney movie

    I hugged an old tree
    And the tree
    Hugged me back

    Tiny leaves sprouted
    Out of my ears
    So thirsty for the Sun

    It might have been some
    Five minutes or
    Maybe fifty years

    Crows ducks and sterlings
    Sang in a chattering choir around us
    While we were away

    Never thought
    My life would get this close to
    A freaking Disney movie

    But now that I’m here somehow
    I’m gonna make sure to
    Sing along