two scent-bound poems

If You Should Want


If you should want
a taste of Heaven
you should be a serpent
raptured in the scent
of golden honeysuckle,
frankincense and myrrh,
you should see the
scarlet poppy
waving in the azure sea
inside your mind,
you should bow your head
in prayer
let the scent
of even one stargazer lily
have its way with you,
you should follow it
to the lotus blossom
unfolding in your soul.

~~~~~~~~~~



Follow the Scent


Who gives more?
The philanthropist with his billions?
The man who shares his last meal?

When the world is upside down, and
your life is falling apart, is it money
that will be the glue to make things right,
to put the pieces back together? And if
you know what it feels like to be hungry,
to choose between your children,
which one goes to school, which one works
or dies for the American dream, will
you hear the geese honking on their
return from the land that belongs to no
one, is never on a map?

Am I my brother's keeper, how do I serve
his last meal?

There is only a raw wind blowing through the open
heart, there are only dreams that flow through
the open mind.

We dance like a golden field of wheat, cut down and
made into bread for the living.