‘Every once and awhile one needs to wrap themselves in forgiveness, and forgetfulness…it’s the only way to release the hook, lean into it, no resistance, no pulling away.’ From the first poem in Gone Fishing, the poet takes you on a journey where each verse meditates on an aspect of being human, living in the light and letting it go at that. This collection runs the gamut of relationships, spirituality, impermanence, and a romance with life, the poet asking if you believe in happy endings.

All That I Can Be

1.
only ever one glass of wine
no matter how beautiful the pair might seem together,
each crafted individually exquisitely unique
engendered with a particular essence
a minion among snowflakes, crystals, stars

yet nothing about us
uniquely other than
one person, an individual cell,
a single being, being human
one body, one mind,
one soul of an old and scarly cat,
smugly contemplating tolerance

everything we love expresses how we feel
about this organ of water and air
this mind of matter and darkness
this exposed soul of a universal want
and need to plant the seed
that I am the earth

I live in light and love
I breathe my air
I admire the flower I am
that grows upon the earth I nurture
for as I churn from day to day
the wind I create caresses my body

I am the earth
I am all that I see,
all that I feel
all that I can be

if we were one light
how brilliant would we shine

the heavens would cease running away
and look back upon us
as the star over Bethlehem
or the light of Mecca

if we were one surface
monumentally varied and etched
with the wisdom of ages
what a beautiful color our skin would be
blinded by the light and sensitive to the touch

if we were one breathe
drawing in everything that has been
and will be, nurturing every pore of our being,
filling the valleys and rivers of our awareness
with an inner sigh of recognition.

that we are the earth

all that was and will be

all that we can see

is what we imagine love to be