A Short Walk

walk these clouds with me
without the sound of gentle feet
smooth skin sliding toward an intimate sky
take a chance
take the sweetest sleep
sing the hymn
of bright light
is this the next step
on the way to eternity
or reverse time
and return ever so slowly sweetly
to the memory
of this short walk

jppestana
august 31, 2017

Blink

see the sun absorb
the distances in me

wasps floating on the pool sip
indistinct in wind
little ripples

the beaten trees thrash about
somewhere the air breathes
a sigh of relief

the air is moist
the dust thick absorbs
cakes the sun

the blue seeps from the sky
the wind cries alone

idly I wonder about

blink

jp pestana
7.15.17

The Return

ask yourself
there
the return 
of hummingbirds
deep rains
glistening rose
purest
tear
air

did the showers touch
your sun filled skin
did the hummingbirds return
to the sweet nectar
yearning

a

quivering

leaf

jppestana
july 14, 2017

Absence of Shade

over cracked stone
it trickles
spills runs in the thin fissures
sunny bubbles explode
crater on smoothing waves
everything about him is still
in the absence of shade
she is the long days
drumming heat
she is like
wasps to water
sipping
stinging
in her
erratic
flight

jp pestana
june 19, 2017

Breathless

the crow echo in sun
wing away
the pine is dead
alive with finch
breathless
dogs panting
the sun encroaching
over miles miles
the wind owns this land
the dust the wind
breathless
pines erupt
in their confused
flagrant ways
it is the rain
a moment
that never comes
breathless
her hair brushes
his cheek
her finger
pointing
to a gray
and discarded
sky

jppestana

June 5, 2017

Nauvoo Stanza 10

a cup of sweet coffee
a couple stray clouds
the blue disrupted
the blackbirds have taken to the trees
they absorb me
they all speak at once for hours
I am uninvited to their conversations
what do blackbirds have to say anyway
that is so important
they leave me
knowing less
than the pine
nauvoo

jppestana
2.21.2017

NAUVOO ( Stanzas 1-9)

don't look for more

it is only the moon above the sun above the moon

you as much the moon you hovering sun all the more in blue

the buddha stands stares in spring's wet earth

he is caught between the river 

your  mountains between the crane

and crow between the senseless dove

singing finch

it is the nauvoo 

the new of you

the coyotes dark shadows

own the washboard road

the old fence marks the sold ranch
only the coyotes stand defiant
in the biting cloaking dust
lope away to the north
to their snow dusted mountains
nauvoo

from the mud from the muddle
from mumblings of one tongue
sweeter than the next
breezes silk his cheeks
one way or another
whispers become screams
screams become whispers
nauvoo

tenuous us
the clouds colorless blameless
bind the wanting sky
bind the mindless wanderings
desert beggar
beggar of tokens gold
a midas alone
finally cleansed
in his river
of nothingness
nauvoo

touch me when the wind
touches the sun
am I enough of a forgiveness
enough of what
you want me to be
the voodoo
the truth
a breathless magic
throw of the bones
the rattle spitting sparks
becoming stars
smoldering moon
becoming you
nauvoo

wishing you
nearer wishing
bothered wishing
helpless wishing you
wishing the sun and moon were one
wishing on the stars
like the song you sung
on the last night
last kiss
of my
insisted
existence
nauvoo

the beating drums
cymbals
the distance before me
is a circle spinning
it is closer than
I think and thinking
should be outlawed
feeling is the new law
of the land
the cymbal
a frantic dance
a mad tango
nauvoo

she claims this is not a place
it has no center no core
I think of places before her
and after her
the negative space
between the cottonwood
holds the cattle
the sandhills
shredded light
maybe this is a piece
of something
a place
nauvoo

I cry for the sake of tears
for the portuguese sea
the horse rests his head against my cheek
breathes warmly sleek neck mahogany
ebony mane
where is the poetry in an animal
malice of man
perversions
of verse
mistaken
for me
nauvoo

jppestana
2.20.2017