every day I reach
a thousand times
above my head
for a glass or plate

you cannot avoid your path
you cannot step off your path
it’s non-negotiable, can’t look away
you will see your path through

Sunset lit wind swirls,
smells of waning days, sleeping warm.
Light eddies, tumbles in little whirlpools,
dances the future of leaves, drain of hours

Shimmer of birch leaves against slap of sunlight
all flicker and history, tale of what is to be
what is told. Time between winter and summer,
reckoning and memory, counting and forgiving.

The more I drink, the more I love my family.
Until we drink too much, then we fight and cry.
That’s not a plea for understanding or absolution,
it’s a question of what makes those you love

The mother tongue is the mother
of all tongues, including half tongue,
two tongue and ten tongue, so named
for the weight they must bear. Ten tongue