FootprintsintheWind.com

Maybe I am not a knot
and you are not a jeweled net
maybe each is yet a window
opened to the breezes
the great and open spaces
within our reach

:- Doug.

Speak I must
though battered about
or misunderstood
speak I must
this thing to me so important
give voice the power
the heart
the truth of me
the world has need
I know and swear it is so
for I am in the world
speak I must

:- Doug.

Geniuses, lovers, angels
I see in the faces before me
Some days more apparent than others

:- Doug.

When Dad’s body falls apart
and his soul is gathering in
is this family a roomful of strangers
or will we stitch together our hearts?

:- Doug.

Tolerant intolerant
including excluding
this one visits these each alike
ebbs and flows around them:
this one is called humanity
or divinity
or visitor:
this one comes and goes
is all there is
some wonder
was that a touch?
others ask
is that all there is?

:- Doug.

My art is conversation rare.

:- Doug.

I am a poet-lawyer.

:- Doug.

I am a poet at law.

:- Doug.

What lies before us and
What lies behind us are
Small matters compared to
The lies within us

:- Doug.

This is my original medicine
This is what I bring to the world
What brings me to the world

:- Doug.

Exchange your future. Converse!

:- Doug.

What does Converse mean, again? I am coyote, trickster. Only I do not change shape, I invite you to do so.

:- Doug.

To be baptized with fire
Rather than a broom
I would end as ashes not dust

:- Doug.

Goals are straight-line tools
For a curvaceous world

Goals are flat-line tools
For a living world

Goals are right-angle tools
For a fractal world

:- Doug.

What might we mean
By Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
Today?

:- Doug.

Between us
Here-now
Is the center
Of all

:- Doug.

This messy, complex,
Knotted meeting
Feels like a fry pan
Something larger
Than my recipe
Is being cooked up
There is heat
We are mere
Ingredients
And a whole lot of
Stirring’s going on!

:- Doug.

Why would we want hospice earlier than 7 days before we die? Why would we want to live well our last months? It’s not about making comfortable, it’s about living truth whole.

:- Doug.

Each of the 5 ½ ways to gather caring for our elders has its limitations:
½) Veteran’s Administration is good for assisted living, not much help with nursing facilities;
1) Family marshaling their resources and love is low cash cost, high personal and relationship cost and rewards; some things family members cannot do without learning new skills, leaving careers, acquiring expensive equipment; sometimes those things can get in the way of the living the family needs to be doing;
2) Own pocket: our wallets can run out;
3) Long-Term Care Insurance: sometimes this wallet can run out, too, or lapse because of inadvertence;
4) Medicaid: requires a giving up of resources and a semi-private room and finances, each of which can be a burden or a blessing;
5) Family Responsibility: unexpected liability can be distressing, and it could send us cycling back through the other options above.

:- Doug.

Accept that which comes to you
That which comes out of you
Sing with clear and strong voice
Its profundity
As you hear it today

:- Doug.

I’m listening to
The multi-channel
Divine human waves awashing

:- Doug.

Stretch us
Together!

:- Doug.

Who are the butterflies among us?
The ones who have plodded
Been eaten alive in the muddle
—a fire of its own sort—
Become beautiful
& able to fly
& do great service for all
All seeing, far seeing
But for a fleeting moment
Behind them a trail lively

:- Doug.