Stone Lantern
Ishi-Dōrō
On a sunny day
Twelve
Years ago today
I walked
In a tiny garden of melted snow
Stood this little lantern
I did not know its name
Today i learn its elements
from the ground up
Chi earth
Sui water
Ka fire
Fū air
Kū void or spirit
Pointing to sky
Receiving the ones who passed
We are elemental
Ephemeral
As i look to the tiny stone light
My heart unlocks
The sun just right
Warming
Basking
A moment in time:
2011
2016
Significant dates in my life’s time
2014 was in the middle
a time of healing
2026 is just beginning
and as the days slowly grow longer,
yesterday it was noted
dark came closer to 5pm,
I can only hope light will soon rise
and with it consciousness
Consciousness
My own awareness
How i might shift my thoughts
To achieve peace not just in myself
But for the world around me
How does one see
How does one feel
How does one find empathy
How does one grow
And find
a kindness
a heart
One’s Light
One’s very own stone light
💕🕊️🪷💕
Snowdrops
Half a world away
Bloom in the sunny soil
Near Rilke’s Muzot
Harbinger of Spring
Tiny little white flowers
Signaling a season shift
While in the Green mountains
we brace for subzero temperatures
Hope still undeniable
Impeachment
Is becoming a rally cry
for this administration’s
terrifying crimes against humanity
One can only amplify
the call
demand accountability
as others complicit
execute horrific orders
Snowdrops
Half a world away
Bloom in sunny soil
My soul aches
Silence is no longer
Safe. Never was.
Our voices continue to rise
Louder
Louder
Louder
LOUDER!
As loud as
Snowdrops
Pushing through dry soil
On a sunny day
Sheltered by Rilke’s Muzot
🪷🕊️🪷
January 10th. 2026
Crescent
above tall pines
nested among maples
a dormant lilac
greets the day
A small group
Buddhist monks
and their dog, Aloka,
Walk
they walk for Peace
Over two thousand miles
from Texas to DC
Illuminating compassion
along the way
They walk today
The need is dire
Light is rising earlier
Darkness pushed back
Yet still our world is fraying
Fraying
Unraveled by humans who have lost
Lost track of compassion and kindness
Lost track of their humanity
Lost track of Good and their humanity.
Silence envelopes morning
Stillness holds the land
Ice
It melts off my roof
forming
treacherous
conditions
on deck
Soul searching
Crescent fades into a pale sky
A storm of freezing rain is on the way
Steam rises
in a small cup
hearts break
and hold
Hold onto goodness
Hold onto one
and other
Hold onto those
who have lost hold.
🕊️🪷💕
Buried in subzero temperatures
Under a mountain of fine snow
My world slows
As the whole world burns
Words trickle out
Lies flow freely
ICE still at large
In my town a person penned
a despicable letter to the editor
blaming the victims
of ICEs murdering thugs
Lies perpetuated distorted to fit
a government’s narrative
based in outright
lawlessness
My world slowly closing in
People lost
Alex Pretti
Renee Nicole Good
and countless others
in-prisoned
Including
children
Children
There are no words strong enough
to express the sheer outrage
pouring over so many of us
in a country we no longer recognize.
For those who think three more years
are
b e a r a b l e
Think again
In a hair over a year
our new fascist government
Dismantled us
In theee years
I gasp
Pale
We cannot tolerate
this any longer
We must impeach the leadership
All of it!
And hold murderers and thugs
Accountable
ACCOUNTABILITY
Now.
❤️🩹
Light is rising
over a land
dipped in ICE
A five year old child
Liam
was used
as bait
BAIT
He is five years old!
It is reported he is now
in dentention in Texas!
Earlier this month
Lunas was killed
Murdered by ICE while in custody
Asphyxiated!
the news trickles out
Horrific
Unraveling the fabric of our society
abducted
taken
murdered
unlawful arrests
breaking and entering
torture
rape
denied medical care
left to die
shot
these words are actions
people have been committing onto
other human beings
Actions punishable by laws
which apparently no longer apply
I am in a state beyond outrage
Accountability
Justice
Due process
these are not hollow words
They are the foundation
of our well being
Our shared humanity
this horror needs to stop.
❤️🩹
Morning
Morning snow
Each twig coated in white
Defining the moment
The Algorithm pushes
News
Worse news by the day
Saturating the airwaves
Consciousness
Awareness
Peace
Illusive
But the news relentless …
I’ve lost track of which horror
I have written my congress about
this past year
A year of
Protesting
Marching
Engaging
Supporting
Just to find the would be
Commander in chief
Flip off a union worker
Who called him out
A woman murdered
A go fund me for her killer!
Justice
… for the birds
The algorithm
It feeds itself yet
A group of monks continues their walk
I look out over the fresh snow
Grateful for my friends
Grateful for kindness
Grateful for this brave state
Heartbroken over our nation
Chilled to the bone
Greenland the stage being set
for a war without winners
Hope manifests
In the flight of a chickadee
In a landscape still
in winter snow …
In you
Your heart
My heart
Full
In spite of the times
picking up my pen
justice …
❤️🩹
Silence is not consent
In a world gone mad with lies and hollow words
Silence becomes its own rebellion
Stillness a revolutionary act
Silence is not consent
A sitting president, kidnapped
In a brazen start to the year that promises
Far worse
Apathy is not an option
Evil the likes rarely unveiled
Now walks the halls of government
And threaten Greenland 🇬🇱 too
We are run by a government so corrupt
I feel pale
Silence is not consent
And the echo of these few words
In a circle of friends
Ought to shake us to the bone
Inspiring us to
Speak Peace
🕊️🪷
Miniature snow flakes
Dance quietly on the wind
Chickadees swing from ice beams
Pine trees are bending in frozen snows
With my breath in I steady
the pounding in my chest
Hold it for a moment
Slowly release
Release
Release a little more
Realease completely
And start once more
with Peace
Aware my jaw too needs to release
In the still silence of a cold January moment
I hear the wind whistling inside of me
and the deep drum of my heart
Steady
Stable
Solid
Moving me
May we hold one and other
Like full moon light
Glimmers of Hope
Illuminating our lives
🧸
Gently
Gently
In a star light sky
Crisp
Night air
Envelopes
In a big stainless bowl
Basil harvested
Awaits pesto making
Fragrance fill the air
Gently
In a star light sky
Hot mango tea
Honey
Peace
Witness to our time
Love
Heartache
Unraveling
Still
Hope
Gently
In a star light sky
Paints at the ready
Words floating in
Finding love
Shines brighter
At every turn
Gently
Grateful
under the stars
this night
🪷🕊️🪷
Support beam
Moon rose blood red
In the eastern sky
this night heralds fall
As temperatures drop
into the thirties
Basil is to be harvested
Pumpkins too
It is a time of
Spiced lattes
and cozy sweaters
In the world at large
Billionaires meet in paved
Rose gardens
as the presidential rhetoric
Threatens
its very own citizens
in their own cities
I never thought I’d write that
or this …
The enemy is domestic
Building up
ICE
threatening us all
A civil war in the making
Plain as day
Slowly I straighten
My spin
Bones crackling
Remembering too.
Stand tall
Armed with a pen
and paint 🎨
I venture into the darkest night
Supported by the moon
Among tall pines
Reflect
on the power of words
the power of art
the power of justice and truth
the power of a single seed
Allow the trees to become
Support
as a beam of moon light
Shelters thee.
🕊️🧸🪷
Long ago
I looked down at my hands
And recognized their roots
Dad’s DNA plain as day
His love of the earth
Running thru every vein
Life’s sorrows and joys
Etched in each little mark
His warmth radiating
And his heart big as big can be
Today I saw him again
In the magic of summer
The light just right
There
When times in life remind us
Of how fragile and resilient
We truly are
💝🕊️🧸
Put the peas to rest
Find the seeds
Dry stalks brittle come up
Easy in a ground
Even drier
The pond is low
So low I’ve never seen
The rocks it shows
Pink sky of six am
Heralds rain
I welcome the drops
In the dust road
Today I read
the NPR article
Of artists responding to the
Smithsonian censorship
We all ought to be
Alarmed
Highly Alarmed
Our voice
the voice of clear insights
muzzled
Amy Sherald who
Painted Michelle Obama’s portrait
Responded
As did
Ibram X. Kendi
The author of
“How to be an Anti-Racist”
That book was transformative
It moved me to my core
I’m glad I read it
And I love the portrait of
Michelle Obama
and am also
Intrigued by Sherald’s
“Trans Forming Liberty”
Profound thinking
Mastery in the Arts
Creative curating
We are loosing our history
One act of censorship
at a time …
At a time when we need it most
So if in your soul creativity calls
In any capacity
Respond
For we all now have a responsibility
To be bold
The peas might be dry
the pods to seed
But may we be seen
In unlikely places
Popping up
Pipping up
Picking up
May we now be seed!
🫛🕊️💕
As the nation unravels
Resistance builds
From every corner
People rise
A rainbow 🌈
Memorial is erased in Florida
May hundreds more rise
I raised my banner
Love it reads …
In anticipation of a long winter
I feel kindness
Compassion
Regard
Empathy
All need nurturing these days
As things are taking a darker yet turn
I love you
with all my heart and soul
I love you to the ends of time
I love you
Just because
I do
There is no greater Peace
than a nation in love
May we find ourselves
So deeply loved and in love
that our light heals our soul
Soul of this Nation
May you glow ever so bright
🕊️💕
Alarming / Cacophony
Bird of Prey
Hunts my garden
Little ones beware
Hawk swoops down
Tiny life traded for lunch
It’s almost cold enough
for Fire
Nature unfolds
Leaves twirl
Basil is blooming
Tomatoes ripen
Eaten off the vine
A nation ill-at-ease
Compassion loosing ground
Eagle dripped in gold
Falls
And roses?
They loose their petals to concrete
Who would be heartless enough to burn a rose?
Courage …
In Sunflowers we find endless Hope
and Bravery! So much Bravery
Rose your thorns are no match
for the vile nature of governance
Camomile
Come to your senses!
Anemone too!
A Reckoning!
An Edelweiss chimes in …
Enough!
❤️🩹
My Rose
Between the Gladiolus
and the Sunflowers
our hearts bloom
Our Rose Garden
the United States National Flower by the way
was symbolically paved over
Paved over. Let that sink in.
National symbolism crushed
Obliterated
Symbols matter
Valentine
“On est bien peux de chose
et mon amie la rose … “
“… ne vois bien qu’avec le cœur …”
So on this late August day
I sing the beauty of a single rose
fragrant and free
blooming forever
in our hearts
For a nation needs its flower
its bedrock of compassion
its honor and its joy
Its purity of soul
so it may rise and live free
🕊️💕
Light glows sunset orange
In the tall white pines
An imperceptible breeze
Moves the hot summer evening
Far from chaos the gladiolus bloom
Unfazed and delighted by the heat
the Geraniums thrive
A plump pumpkin is nested
Among the cucumbers
Just shy of the basil patch
I know the need for peace
in the depths of my soul
As I lay in silence by the fan
Basking in the quiet air
I know each headline
They burn holes in my consciousness:
As the National Guard is misused in DC
As Alaska is hosting a wanted war criminal
As Florida builds Alligator Alcatraz
As fires rage to the west and north
As famine and wars devastate nations
As People are being viciously deported
As the threat of climate change lays hidden
As removing women’s right to vote is shared
As whole states are gerrymandered
As gas lighting is normalized
As as as as and the list goes on
When it just can’t seem to get worse
Another Hydra shows its head
But I think what stuns me most in this despicable disgusting regime is that it is supported by so many as if it were ok
Well it is not even remotely ok
None of this is ok
We are not ok
The tall white pines curl under the heat
Butterflies look for nectar in long lost milkweed
Whales sing less and less
The sunsets Red in smoke and ashen air
I can’t fathom what comes next
So quietly I send thoughts of serenity and peace into the night light
and hope
Hope the seared hole in my consciousness will not be for naught
Hope as the moon rises
Over this land we share
Hope for an awakening of massive proportions
for a future that nurtures us all
Hope
🕊️
Loosing track of time
Summer in retrospect
Gratitude
Gently hold the power
of fleeting moments
A ray of sun
Heat on a geranium blossom
Watered soil
A cucumber curling up the pole
Fresh basil
Cherry tomatoes
Black and white photos
Sandy toes
Salty air
Bask
Fresh water spring
An abundance of flowers
And an art show
About flowers
Beauty in brush strokes
Musical notes
Time drifting
Like a leaf on a pond
Robins in the blueberries
Indigo
Yellow
Pale green
A feast
A heat wave
Thunderstorms
Pearls on a wet clothesline
Slide into fall
Drifting summer
Away
🕊️🪷🕊️
Tenderly rising
In full regalia
the very first reds
of fall are here
Faint
Color splashed across
the greens
Unmistakable
Gentle, light shifts
Yellows appear
too soon
Tiny white caterpillars
fall from the sky
dangling on a thread
Shifting of seasons
Captured in fair moments
Life begins to change
A Cornucopia harvested
Under a Red sun
Fire
In real time.
As the Dismantling
continues
starting with the most vulnerable
the very ones whose compassion
would have you full of glee
Weep
in a nation run by Scavengers
Yet bright lights still remain
Battered by the unrelenting
Lies and corruption
they forge ahead
Brave as brave can be
Red hats falling one by one
to reveal dispair
bitterness
and a betrayal
that goes far beyond the pale
Red takes on new meanings
As rage swells
Tighten your belts
A golden ballroom
Planned
Wheat rolls in the wind
A garden of roses paved
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry too
Rolling over in his grave
Pen in hand
Reminding us:
One see only well with the Heart
So take heart dear one
i write to you from the fall of
roses and the wind
of autumn’s Hope
🕊️❤️
Dragon fly
To watch the Dragon fly
Across the sweetness of the garden
Cucumbers twirling over tomato plants
Fly Dragon fly
Bug heaven
Fly Dragon fly
Sweet summer dreams
Slowly land on the railing
Sun kissed heat
Rest with peace
Wings shimmering
Afternoon light
Fly Dragon fly
Well into dusk
Eat
Magically returning
Year after year
to the wilderness of this little lot
Bringing joy to those who see
See beyond the headlines
See beyond the dismantling
See beyond the unrest
See beyond the injustice
See beyond the traumas
To the Dragon fly in summer
Flying free
🕊️
Somewhere down the road
Somewhere down the road
I will wake up
Having driven East on 2
Not as far East as she goes
but East enough for two
Somewhere down the road
I will wake up
To the laughter of two older than life friends
And marvel at their joy rushing thru
Somewhere down the road
Meals will be shared and memories made
Sweat corn
Fresh greens
Cherries
and a lobster or two
Somewhere down the road
I will wake up
In sheer gratitude
to find it easier to move
In a body healing day
by day
And somewhere down the road
I will remember
lives
to the mists lost
still very present in our dreams
Our spirits join
in a harmony
impossible to shake
where rivers meet the ocean
On the horizon of a sea
where love so deep takes a turn
Reminding us all
to see
this life for what it truly is
fleeting and ephemeral
a love impossible to miss
Somewhere down the road
of you and me
🕊️💕
Summer
There it is
Beauty and joy
Camp fires and stars
Sunrises and sunsets
A million dreams come true
And there it is too grief
And gratitude
And joy
And more Joy
To know the world ephemeral
And yet dream in permanence
There is magic in that moment of recognizing
One’s impermanence, and the sheer vital force
of surviving!
And thriving!
Thrive dear one.
Thrive
In beauty and mystery
In sheer delight
In misty mornings and foggy nights
Thrive and love
For Love is in the end our greatest gift
💝
July à midst the fans
heat barrels down
I dreamt a world in bloom
Hidden among the clouds
In a nation in dire straits
(a nautical term lost to history)
we breath in hot air and wild fire smoke
Climat change as plain as day
A silence that will not break
But Nature!
Roars!
into the beyond
Oh and then you know
We can white wash history
Try and delete destroy pretend
only to find it revivd even more viciously in
Alligator camps and ICE raids
Masked thugs!
Did i tell you
i dreamt
Of a world in bloom beyond the clouds?
Did you hear it sing
the Anthem we once all knew?
Dripping in greed and mud
Tattered and torn
Ripped a little more with every lie
I dreamt of a world in bloom
the world we once knew
A place of care for every creature
a kindness
for the heavens
a necessity here on Earth
To care amidst the smoke and the upheaval
To roar and care
And care some more!
And dream a world in bloom …
🕊️🪷🕊️
Late lilacs bloom
Early Peonies unfold
Poppies are holding steady
June garden grows
I love my friends
Bold cloud thru the trees
Last light
First light
Blue sky breeze
Vulnerability
Compassion
Kindness
Lights the day
Thank you for being
💕
Proud Ally
June 1st. 2025
A revolutionary act to state
my pronouns are she/her
A revolutionary act to say
Inclusion is pure wonder
An act of love to hold
My LGBTQ+ friends & family dear!
When in fact there could be no revolution at all!
We could simply embrace each other! Enjoying Rainbows!
🌈 🏳️⚧️ 💕🥰
Now
Gently night falls
on the first sunny day
in awhile
Tips of trees
glow gold
fade to blue
Fresh nectar for my tiny friends
Summer is coming here
Our minds made for nature’s gifts
Bask in last light
Music fills the cooling breeze
Notes flow effortlessly
Nourishing heart
Soul be still
Heart be still
Mind be
Still
Poems unfurl
Like lush green ferns
Sticky with glee
Wet on the page
Glorious scribbles
Reminders of thoughts yet to dry
As the world rages beyond
the pink boundary
ribbons hold tight
Welcome the night
a darkness full with stars
keeping senses engaged
present
Still
Now
🕊️
Red White and Blue
Remembering you
this Memorial Day Weekend
Life flew by
for the ones
protecting
our valuables:
Freedom
Would they recognize us today?
A hummingbird stands guard
at the break of day
an ocean of green surrounds
Stars fall one by one to Dawn
A tiny break in the rain
Sunrise
We clasp our hands
Freedom reigns
In unbreakable silence
they stand for the fallen soldiers
in any weather faithful to the mission
I remember the lost
I remember the living
I remember the sacrifice
I remember the pain
I remember the honor
I remember the glory
I remember the friends you name
Memorial
Still the hummingbird stands guard
Still i take in each tiny drop
Like diamonds on the clothesline
Undisturbed by little feathers
Still
I remember
🪷🕊️🪷
“From sea to shinning sea”
“In the land of the free and the home of the brave”
Big and Small Acts of kindness
Needed
People’s rights trampled
Desperation
Millions of Acres of Public Land
Our prized national Treasures
To be sold!
Landscapes to be altered beyond
Recognition
The People’s Places
Violated
Health Care
beyond reach
Madness at the door
Closing our ears or eyes
Will not solve this administration’s insidious take over
My hoarse voice
Rises the night
“We ride at Dawn”
“We ride at Dawn!”
To where this was it!?
Green overwhelms the senses
Rain continues into a garden all ready in need of weeding
Massive cuts to our social safety nets and our social services will bring further despair
In clichés we deal today
“Mark my words”
Nothing good can come of a corrupt administration
Rise
Hope
In Arms fulls
Rise righteousness
Rise honestly
Just simply rise
You are essential
❤️🧸
Hummingbird guards
the tiniest might protects
braving rain drops
almost as big as it
a beautiful glass feeder
swinging in the wind
Backdrop
a sea of green
tender leaves thrive
each tree now
in full regalia
Truly Spring
At long last
🕊️
Tenderness greens
softest leaves
spring
Tiny pine needles
Bloom
Peas grow two inches
of Rain
Delicate hues of yellows and
blues shift
Sing
Dandelions knee deep
Dust bare feet
Basking
Beauty
Thunderstorm
Holds
Heart Song
In time grief lifts
itty bitty leaves
brimming with glee
See
💝
As the light rises
On a blue sky day
Rain fading away
I hold my Mother
Dear
Ebb and flow
Time eternal
Essence
Some time ago
Genetics shared
DNA matched
Rounding out
the Edges
None for granted
or a given
I grow into
the daughter I was
meant to be
Love
Compassion
Memories
All share space
in our hearts
Today
🧸❤️
Snow flakes dance
Little itty bitty stars
Float down in spirals
A gust of Spring
Wind Snow flakes rise
Fall an inch maybe two
Over daffodil shoots
Snowflakes twirl
Like cotton to the maple trees
Snow flakes hold on tenderly
to every twig
Blown about they whisper
Love, winter is almost away
But today
Love
I’m here
to stay
💕❄️
Transgender visibility
Today I am writing to support my transgender family, friends, and community!
People deserve to be seen for who they are without threat! Or fear of erasure!
I cannot believe I’m actually asking for non erasure!
Visibility is a right!
The transgender community deserves to be honored, protected and seen in all its glory!
I am deeply grateful for a world where diversity is the norm and honored!
And I am absolutely horrified by the threats to the transgender community and persons! These threats and actions deserve the most severe condemnation!
And a plan to redress these wrongs needs to be implemented from returning service personnel to their posts, to accurate passports, to making visible the accomplishments of all our communities including the transgender community!
I stand with my family and friends!
🏳️⚧️💕🏳️⚧️
In the woods:
Owl sat a few feet away
Up a tiny maple
Sugaring season on the way
Barred Owl opened its eyes
Looked right at my Luna dog
Who leapt up in excitement
Owl unfazed kept watch
Looking intently at Luna
Who slowly agreed to come home
So crisp the moment
Omen, spiritual awakening,
Change, all midair
🦉
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King Jr.
What matters today is the beauty of a lot of snowflakes drifting down from clouds a tiny wind dancing them to ground
What matters is an American flag flying upside down on EL Capitan mountain “A sign of profound distress or extreme emergency”
What also matters is the reshaping of the military to suit this administration. It’s terrifying and has just begun.
What matters is our transgender friends being singled out and discriminated against
What matters too is our voices continuing to rise in support of each other in the face of a malignant administration
What matters is the love I feel for my friends
🕊️🪷🕊️
In a world filled
with alarming news
this morning I paused
to admire the return
of the light
Pale pink sky
Just past 6:30 am
Ushered in the day
Birds songs
Despite temperatures
At zero Fahrenheit
A frigid wind whips
snow right off trees
the light rises clear
A pink cloud floats
my dreams of Peace
🕊️
…
In preparation for the storm
Saturday we shoveled the roof
Frozen in layers
Snow broke off like toast
Thigh high
Gratitude for our neighbors
To the north for the
Big blue scoop
Shovels
Made in Canada
Saved the day
And the Italian snowblower
Finished the job on the ground
While wild caught salmon
Brought yet another place to the table
Japan drove us home
Alienating and isolating
In an increasingly
Mixed world
Is folly
We need to stand up
To the tyrants taking down our House
We the People
Means all of us not just a select
Few
I continue to be horrified
by the destruction
the pen wielding official
and his unelected staff are doing
Our agencies falling one by one
Our judges removed arbitrarily
Our press increasingly shut out
Our world is crumbling
Yet we rise
day after day
with light in our eyes
and hope in our hearts
My grandparents
My great aunts
My father
They lived Europe in WWII
They instilled in us deep and powerful lessons
Of what horrors happened to the world then
We can not go back!
We can not stand idle
We must use our voices to speak our truth
We the People must continue to rise
We cannot allow our leaders to whitewash history and gaslight us today!
Gaza is not ours to take
Greenland is not up for grabs either
Canada will never be the 51 State
Panama Canal is its own
Ukraine will not be mined by America and parceled off to Russia!
And if this doesn’t chill us
The hurts inflicted here at home might!
Our private data breached!
Our agencies destroyed
Our medical research undermined
Our friends silenced and disappeared
A climate in peril!
One way or another on Monday I will protest Presidents Day
I along with countless others will stand up to the powers that be.
🕊️❤️
Love
Blue sky
Dark waters
Grief rips apart the heart
Snow covered branches
Sway in icy winds
Silent moments
Scream
Our power is our diversity
Our strength is our diversity
Our compassion is our diversity
Defiant
Undeniable
Vibrant!
Alive
Light
Long after fallacies fall
Love stands forever true
🕊️
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” —Harriet Tubman