Maybe Down the Road

between placitas

and santa fe

sweet clouds fall

from the sky

flutter

land in

snow

maybe feeling sees me

beyond my senses

maybe it's just

algodones

my eyes wander

first in desolation

return only

with small treasures

pleasure of a smooth

stone bleached

bone

then maybe see

some odd dawn

of timeless light

unearthly arousal

surrender of

all kinds

then

lingering

stillness

is this child awakened

a late celebration

scarred heart

worried words

soaring song

maybe it’s the raven's tree

hidden in the pitch

darkened in the wind

trembling like an unsteady hand

drunken

with pen

jppestana 1.23.2017

Speak To Me

you speak to me in dream
the dream that speaks in deep
or restless sleep
in the now
or never
the howl
the whisper
the torrent
the drip
the look
the touch
the song
the silence
the sun
the cloud
the drought
the flood
the flame
the freeze
the stone
the flower
the father
the mother
the birth
the death
the tremor
the quake
the fear
the tears
the love
the loss
the winter
the winter

january 21, 2017

Old Friends

he shuns redemption

like an old friend unvisited

missed for ages

his sins
unwanted guests

choose to stay

stain his foolish soul
an endless confession

remain his unsaved

unrelinquishing
grace

old friends

of another

kind

jppestana january 19, 2017

Dark Charms

what world was born

your dark charms

are they locked away

in some guarded spot

the tower from which you see eternity

for what it can be

an instant burst

afterglow of teasing souls

I see a history of you

your casual torments

scribbled notes

on yellow wrinkled paper

and I wanderer

cower in your tempting shadows

afraid that I like cobra

will be kept in a woven basket

only see the sun

when your dark notes play

when coins dropped

by curious tourists

in a cup ring

ring in the trance

sway of my

hypnotic

dance

jppestana january 19, 2017

Caught

A low moon in blue snow

A passing car

Bright lights passing

Chasing snow

A moon unharmed

Caught in blue snow

jppestana january 12, 2017

Or

and my january land

is all tans rock and grass

interrupted by juniper

the sun does

the best it can

struggles above me

tries to break free

of its restraints

and the clouds

impossible to tell

if the mountain 

is cloud

or the cloud 

mountain

jppestana january 10, 2017

Dissolve

for a moment forget

the poets' timely rhymes

unreasoning seasons of love

after all what do they know

but their own rapture

I say no spring is needed

for these fleeting hearts to flower

no fresh rain to boldly cling

to the warmth of their

captured bodies

wet cotton

its in these cold

shaded whites

grays of winter

precarious clarity

of dripping ice

that spark

the easy dreamers

chasing blossoms

dissolving

to dreams

jppestana january 9, 2017