airplane sunset in Japan

An ocean rises in the sky
Above the dark of city and forest
A deep blue dotted with white whales
It rises, reaching past the horizon to touch the sunset.

It meets with the light blue
And makes a stack, miles high,
of color —
of purple, orange, pink.

A single mountain surges through the dark of forest
And brushes with pink
As the ocean moves west
And colors melt and blend, as if painted by an invisible hand.

More mountains follow,
fading into the shadow of forest
As the colors fade
And the ocean turns darker.

And what was grey around me is golden.
As the sun puts forth its last
Before fading into city and forest,
Lighting the ocean for one moment before rest.

[from 2018]

\ lea /

fridge magnet poetry: haiku

was delirious
but soar beneath blue moon mist
recalls sky of rose

\ lea /

handmade / holy

handmade stars
join my
handmade heart

and we watch the sky
as it fades
from light to dark.

words from my lips
are just
sound

without compare
to words
from

the Holiest
face
of

the Holiest one,

more glorious than
the handmade stars.

\ lea /

surge | retreat

come, waves.
wash over me.
take me with you.
wash me away.

wash over me
with sand and foam.
your barreling waves
will be my rest.

as they force me on.
power up, over, and through me.
raging on,
until at last,

after the hindrance of a returning wave,
water again surges up onto the bank,
reaching and reaching as far as it can, spreading to any sand it touches,
until it must give up.

& retreat.
back out to the deep.
from whence it came
to wash over me, once again.

\ lea /

midnight stars

near midnight,
we ran down to the beach;
our footsteps hit pavement,
echoed against sleeping houses.

we reached the dock,
left shoes & socks behind,
to wade in the sand
and look towards the stars.

I ran to the swings
And started to fly,
up into the stars
stealing glimpses through hair blown by swing-made wind.

I surged toward them,
propelled each time higher than the last. and
the sand, the waves, crashing & foaming just feet away,
disappear.

and I sail into the stars
at least for a moment,
when a black sea is all I see, as I look up
a sea dotted with starlight seeping through,

Until the swing pulls me back,
out of the stars,
and down to the sand, my face alight with stardust.

And I look up again,
knowing
that He knows the name of each star
And yet He died for me.

\ lea /