My piano misses me.
I hear him yoohoo! as I pass
to do some task or other.
I don't think he's lonely.
My son rehearses for a recital
and the kitten leaps across his keys.
I probably shouldn't wait
till he starts yelling, or miraculously,
playing "Clair de Lune" on his own
- the song I imagine myself to be -
to start practicing again.
Actually, I miss my piano.

This poem is mine.  This poem is yours.

You may read these words 

and understand them.

You may dislike them, crumble them up

and lob them into the waste basket 

like a basket ball
or make them into an airplane
and fly them across the room.

You may decide to memorize them,

send them to friends,

or magnet them on your refrigerator.

Poems become our thoughts -
the partnering, the square dance,
the ballet of words --

about the places where we walk
and places where we have never been,
the people we love,

death, life and birth,
about tears flowing, hurting,

the inability to cry,
beauty, ugliness and all in between,
trying till you sweat and apathy,
about flowers we water,

and trees we plant that become forests.

Maya Angelou wrote "Still I Rise" for the world.

Her poem is hers and is also mine. 

Eddie Vedder's "Society" belongs to society.

His song is his and is also yours.

A teacher's extraordinary teaching
belongs to herself, 

her students
and more than her students.
How far will her creativity
continue to create?
And who and what has
inspired her?

Even though I don't know you.

I've never seen you before.

Even though we have never spoken.

This poem is yours.  This poem is mine.

You may read these words

and understand them.

You may dislike them, crumble them up

and lob them into the waste basket 

or you may use them as some part of
your dance in creation.

What is chocolate, besides chocolate?
What is snow, besides snow?
What is a baobab, besides a baobab?
What is a crow, besides a crow?
Heaven, they are heaven.
That must mean we live in heaven.

What is a mean lie, besides a mean lie?
What is a gun, besides a gun?
What are dead zones, besides dead zones?
What is starvation, besides starvation?
Hell, they are hell.
Does that mean we live in part hell?

If God created the earth it must be heaven.

If hatred exists on earth is it then part hell?

Pray hard, with every cell, every atom, pray hard.
Ask for more than yourself, with more than yourself
with every person, every plant, every fish, every stone,
every mountain, every sun beam, every candle, every river.
Pray gently, with every cell, every atom, pray gently.

Ask for more than yourself, with more than yourself

with every creature, every island, every song, every home,
every star, every breath, every dance, every conscious moment...  

What is this earth in which we live?

The more you see heaven, the more it will appear.
Here is where heaven is.  Heaven is where you are.
When you drive a cab, don't fly a plane.
When you help your neighbor, forget about your email.
When you drink tea, just drink tea.
When you pray, only pray.
When you scuba dive, don't be in Madrid
When you're speaking to a patient, don't eat creme burlee.
The more you see of heaven, the more it will appear
Here is where heaven is.  Heaven is where you are.
If you plan to blow up a building,
you aren't where you are.
If are a judge with your future in mind,
you aren't where you are.
If you think of what someone's thinking
you aren't where you are.
If you wonder what's for dinner,
you aren't where you are.
If you're involved in why they're wrong,
you aren't where you are.
The more you look for heaven, the more it will appear.
Here is where heaven is. Heaven is where you are.
When you practice the piano, practice the piano.
When you walk on the sand, walk on the sand.
When you fill the bird feeder on a snowy day,
fill the bird feeder on the snowy day.
The more you see heaven, the more it will appear.
Here is where heaven is.
Heaven is where you are.

I will remember your voice.
And, yes, connect it to your name,
even though we've spoken only once.
Will you do the same?

However, if you call me Sherie,
I will call you Shane.
Beloved and God is gracious
are the meaning of these names.

Don't misunderstand this purport
as any precipitous caring.
It's strictly from amusement
and a sanguine sense of daring.

Knight Sir knight,
Thank you for the flower.
Get down off your horse
I'll kiss you for an hour.

two stanzas of four lines
intangible ticking time
a deft pantomime
juggles eight limes

a half second off trail
one falls to the ground
a passionate rebound
catches the heart's sail

Your father has died.  What does that mean?
The paradox of paradoxes is visiting.
Wear black hats to black shoes,
weep on shoulders, share the blues,
revisit memories with the sad news,
solemn traditions assigned on your families behalf,
walk through the graveyard, read the epitaph.

Your father has died.  What does that mean?
The paradox of paradoxes is visiting.
Wear red and yellow, add in some green.
love and feel loving, hug Aunt Bernadine,
enjoy poignant music, your dad's favorite song,
smell all the flowers, laughing's not wrong,
cry and smile and cry all day long.

A spiritual note on the side,
it is for you to decide.
Teacher Tolle says we are
born to be conscious
to die and stay conscious.

Your father has died.  What does that mean?
The paradox of paradoxes is just visiting,
tapping your shoulder, whispering in your heart.
Your father's not dead!....you're never apart.
He lives and through death survives.
My friend, that is what it means.


Following poem XXVII by Emily Dickinson
(in it's entirety because I love this poem)

Because I could not stop for death
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school where children played
At wrestling in a ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then 't is centuries; but each
Feels shorter than a day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.