mist disappears above the steaming tub
of magnesium infused water some particles stray
down the hall out the window and
right out to the stars 90 tons of atmosphere
every day trails behind us a vaporous path
into the light strewn infinite distance
while here the water within a human skin
a sea held up by a seashell skeleton
forgets where it begins and ends and is content
to sink into and out of itself
leaning into the movements
of celestial bodies not so far away
as to have lost their influence

our space faring compass of water
holds the key to life’s direction
it is our first familiar womb a bath
distended always toward the moon

recently we discovered that its
quantum entangled atoms can pass
right through a solid object
and that locked in rock matrix
near the earth’s core is a volume
three times that of all our oceans combined

we breathe its oxygen use its hydrogen
for rockets destined toward ice
on the moon, Mars, Europa, Titan,
all glittering promises of far beyond

it powers our cells uses photons
to communicate one could say
it contains all of the knowledge
sparkling and swirling within our skulls

fluidity is what keeps us healthy
to stop this flow one must die
and even then we are borne along
as it rises from us to become air again

we weep for our final loss of shape
salt trails are washed onto beaches
yet gathered beneath lunar light
the sea leaps up sleek and glistening

giant flukes smash spray high above
the water flies in ecstasy rains
back into its swirling reflection
celebrates all that it calls forth

this is the meaning of all we know
every last drop of us dwells within

©John Greenleaf-Maple – text and art 20180308

even on gray days after massacres
joy is burning through the cracks
where clouds have tumbled and fallen
heaped upon one another mindlessly
seventeen families are grief stricken
fourteen wounded are lying in hospitals
their young lives switched suddenly
to an unexpected trajectory of doubt
as they slowly realize
the extent of the damage
the nature of what has truly
been ripped from their flesh
in a long series spanning decades
headlines this time targeting them
17 students and staff shot dead,
14 wounded, Parkland, FL, Feb 14, 2018
and yes they are bright well spoken
the marching survivors of this tragedy
but acting is last on their list now
it’s getting as real as it gets and some
yes there are some in the land of the brave
whose greedy palms begin to sweat
when the populace wakes up and rallies
when an unwavering insistence quietly arrives

©John Greenleaf-Maple – text and art 20180227

these silences voice
what streams from starlight
a warmer night in February
the gleaming street swarms
with reflected photons
their message will be intuited
only by a still mind
their radiant caresses are
wrapped within a veil of mist
silently become they insist and
we will beckon you to bed
now lie at rest
recline in peace
this is why we traveled so far
to softly inaudibly breathe this
into your beloved ears

© John Greenleaf-Maple – text and art 20180215

– for Macha on her 56th

it is very important
that love poems like this
always be spoken aloud

for the beating heart and quiet breath
are twined in the core of our language
a vibratory code the body knows well

symbols have traveled far were carefully
transmuted to convey to your fierce spirit
the depth of celebration and joy i feel

to simply be in your precious presence
i traveled as vibrating waves through air
through electric ones and zeros and back

but never lost the safeguarded words
the interface and universe are no deterrent
for a living message beamed from the heart

as you can hear this is entirely sincere
in its intent and content oh yes it is
unfailingly devoted to your graceful ways

your kind manner of reassuring all
that love prevails in every trial
that in each and every moment all is well

all is well and all are loved
the world is kept vitally alive by your
glorious smile shining eyes and sacred kiss

all that you are is miraculous
all that you touch is blessed
you are vibrantly here in all that is

which is why words like this
must always be spoken aloud a
resounding strike of an eternal gong

is reverberating through space to infinity
that you may always feel the transmission
of one heart’s true passion for another

cascades of waves collapse to convey
the devotion that faithfully beats
within my chest and now proclaims

joyfully that every syllable you hear
is driven by unbounded appreciation
for the gift of your beautiful being

all the blazing orbits you completed and
all of the stars you traveled among
are glimmering, pulsing in this very moment

here you are shimmering like grace
you’ve arrived at this place to know
that blessings multiply and flow

in a luminescent trail everywhere you go
jewels scintillate in your footsteps and
today we celebrate the beautiful world that

by your radiant essence and tender touch
you have set afire with rising sparks of
spoken sounds full of love and timelessness

©John Greenleaf-Maple – text and art 20180124

for Nhien

with all of us spinning
’round our blazing sun
among the blurred faces of everyone
it is a miracle when someone like you
is found bearing blessings, hopes and dreams
gifts of unimagined possibilities one theme
of love connection and humble commonality,
a precious life we especially celebrate today

With love and appreciation,

JGM 9/29/17 & again 9/28/21

©John Greenleaf-Maple – text and art 20180105

even on this frigid
first day of the new year
divinity is streaming
through the pale blue sky
a thousand feet above where
it is much colder
(it increases their lift)
long strings of geese
are flying wave after wave
healthy and strong
certain of their place
in the air and on earth
born along by the freedom
of unfailing knowledge
in rhythm with all
that sails beneath their wings

©John Greenleaf-Maple – text and art 20180101

– for Macha in celebration of our 14th wedding anniversary

i am grateful for the daily discipline
of mindfulness toward our bodies
that they still readily respond
to one another in a strong and supple embrace
the touches electric traces and taste of salt
where our separate seas flow together
until we are curled round one another
like planetary currents of liquid light sliding
slowly into one until we become an effervescent
swirling vortex of golden champagne
blood rising like boiling surf racing
to burst into blazing glittering booms
upon the warm sizzling beach foaming
with bubbles of shared mindlessness yes
i am grateful for times like this
when sense of separation vanishes
& we are content to blink dreamily
toward one another like sleek seals
satisfied upon this sighing sand
where sound, light & sensation
drum the hearts’ song wordless
rhythms of appreciation for the
surging cascade and searing neurons
yes this is pure unmitigated bliss
in which a world is torn asunder
and laid gently here to reform
into the daily life we choose again
to live in appreciation and grow within
each bringing newly discovered treasures
to this ragged wild unspoiled coast
where light coalesces into breath
exchanging the sweet intermingling
of all the rest of you and me
where thought falls away into the
eternal swell and sway of moments
stilled and hushed finally spent
in this way into a newborn sense
of an entire universe a loving intention
and alluring invitation to dance
barefoot upon this soft sacred shore
built upon the timeless ebb and flow
of slow patient settling a few grains
each time the tide rises turns reverses
always new this way until today
when discovered on a perfect sparkling
sun warmed day a blanket freshly swept
to our feet where ocean tang glows
upon the silent tongue that receives its blessing
becomes iridescent within our mind &
rises into fiery dawn where we again unwind

©John Greenleaf-Maple – text and art 12/30/17

as my fractured right clavicle

has knitted itself back together

stronger than ever before

(for the body grows with insight)

i am stuck again by the miracle of it

and relish in the feel of muscles sliding

well supported by this honey combed

frame of calcium already recycled

millions of times through sea shells

and the bones of all who transitioned

before us everything built without

a single conscious idea or spoken word

were it not for the fractures and healing

we might take too much for granted

on a planet in a solar system in a galaxy

in a universe where physicists daily marvel

at how finely tuned everything is

to make our existence a living possibility

but as we see it all fits perfectly into you

and me and all that is without a single

thought

©John Greenleaf-Maple – text and art 12/12/17

It is our last night of retreat with
Gravity, A Center for Contemplative Action.
And now a sky brimming with stars
settles gently around our shoulders.

The Big Dipper poised above Saint Benedict
seems to shimmer with fullness,
as though it just scooped up a mountain
of silvery kernels from Nebraska cornfields
stretching to infinity in every direction.

There are no devices I wish to power on.
The faint taps and whispering scratches
of a fountain pen
communicate to my sisters and brothers
scrawls of gratitude
in a language that we now know
trails off beyond symbols
to a path of reflected lunar light
across the rippled lake and beyond
to circle a magnificent rising moon;
such celestial celebration
as only reverent silence can bring.

I want to rest here forever and i do
in this eternal present moment
emptied of news feeds, opinions and restless thoughts. All our usual distractions seem so meager, like a blaring, blazing 24 hour casino promising riches to the the masses
that throng to it in a distant metropolis.

Across the street monks pray for us
and all of the world with such devoted unwavering love that I can see it rising
above the harvested fields, a holy host
of mysterious beneficence, like a gift blanket of luminescence that I can surrender to fully amongst the dreams of all who shared with us,
fellow seekers encircling us with
joined hearts and hands,
baptising us with the water of life,
tears freely given without self-consciousness
from such beautiful eyes that I never realized
each human has the capacity
to glisten and shine like this,
that they could bring such blessed renewal,
unconditional love that suffuses the night,
rising higher with the ascending moon,
glowing with perfection on every one of us
in this holy grace-filled timeless instant
of solitude, silence and stillness.

©John Greenleaf-Maple – text and art 10/7/17

i can tell you
what your deepest fear is
the same as mine and all humankind:
that you will not be loved

as a member of the global tribe
certain codes and rituals are practiced
to strengthen the story we think of as us
our roles are well worn
one generation to the next ensuring
some comfort will be brushed along our skin

newborns who are never touched
develop a syndrome known as
failure to thrive yes they die
as has been documented scientifically

can we see how clinical we have become?

love withheld, love unreceived leaves wounds
anger that snakes through a body of scars
trailing behind it festering resentment,
a serpentine reorienting to things
so they now make circular sense
the best defense is calculated offense
much lack can be hidden in war where
we battle the monster attacking our worth

you know good and well
this is how we start thinking
so we can deliberately kill
without blinking an eye
a rational logical decision
based upon the original omission
of any sense of tenderness
yes we truly will lay down lives for this

but as i mentioned before i know
your deepest darkest most hidden fear:
to be judged the outcast unworthy of love
not by god his son or the holy host
but by fellow living breathing humans
the sole agents capable of physical touch

is it too much to ask at last
that we pass this along one to another
as some show signs of having been missed
in the original round where all were blessed

it has become a rather pressing matter
as we are about to drown
in the trickle of intricacies
bleeding from every corner
of this well-narrated tale
of utter loneliness and murderous terror

please be kind and pass it around

©John Greenleaf-Maple – text and art 9/29/17