from Old Stones Understand, by Stacey Murphy

   Leaves Let Go

It is not the way of leaves

to care about how they fall.

It doesn’t matter

whether there are heavy, thunder-filled

clouds overhead

or miles of bright blue and sunshine.

A leaf doesn’t

cry out in pain if a harsh wind

tugs it from its twig

nor does it giggle with mischief if it

manages to break free on its own.

A leaf doesn’t

fret over which is better —

to swoop down in a wild, swirling canopy,

a rustling riot of yellow magic with hundreds of others,

or to flutter demurely to the ground

in a quiet, private moment.

No leaf even considers holding on,

resisting its destiny,

its part in the inevitable pattern.

For the leaf, simply letting go

is the thing.

—Stacey Murphy, Old Stones Understand

from Wind on the Heath: New and Selected Poems, by Naomi Beth Wakan

Reflections While Lovemaking

I lie and watch the snowflakes
descending on the skylight as
he explores my body. I give
an occasional sigh or moan
lest he think I am not completely
with him, but most of me
is pondering on the perfect symmetry
of each flake as it falls, and
as he enters me, I switch to wonder
at the chaos of the flakes
as they become a thin sheet
of mush on the glass. I seek
for patterns in their randomness.
As we rise together in our own
peculiar symmetry, I consider
the thermodynamics that allows
the flakes to pile up more at the top end
of the skylight, and while
he groans with contentment, I
muse on the ethics of multi-tasking.

—Naomi Beth Wakan, Wind on the Heath

from Oblique Music by Elizabeth Bodien

I relish

for today

being unknown

no one in this city

can call me by name

— Elizabeth Bodien, Oblique Music

from Relationship Determines Decision, by Peter Hoheisel

Sometimes just as the train
Vanishes into wherever,
Our previous passions and pursuits,
Simply fade into unimportance.

And sometimes they return as memory,
In strange new ways,
Fresh configurations
Of shining possibility,

And sometimes as shadows,
Scars and bruises
Which cause pain in fresh ways.

—Peter Hoheisel, “The Man on the Lake” Relationship Determines Decision

from Relationship Determines Decision, by Peter Hoheisel

the world of seasons and change,
the world where death and life are twins,
where daylight and darkness make sense
because of each other,
will always teach you
where you are, and what you need
if you will only Listen.

—Peter Hoheisel, "Welcome," Relationship Determines Decision

from Some Divine Commotion, by David Denny

. . . accept the moment when 
the midsummer moon sidesteps the clouds as a sign that
mercy arrives at the most unexpected moments, that
it's possible to trade one life for another, to slide into it,
turn the key, and drive where it is you really want to go.

—David Denny, “Call Me Virgil,” from Some Divine Commotion

from Oblique Music, by Elizabeth Bodien

in dim light now

we untangle ourselves

to this day's music

its unmet surprises

sorrows and blessings

— Elizabeth Bodien, Oblique Music

from A Machine for Remembering, by Justen Ahren

Life cracks us open, Sara,
removing what we've ripened inside,
using us for its purpose.
If I'm to be used,
and for this have lost everything,
I pray to be joyous in my use.


— Justen Ahren, "24 September, from a Photo," A Machine for Remembering

from Shoreline of the Heart, by Joseph Murphy

In such a place, to be
meant no longer being bound
to where or when.


— Joseph Murphy, "Above Kloppenhiem," Shoreline of the Heart