The Truth

I didn't swim with dolphins
Nobody actually swims with dolphins
We're not that good at it
I was floating about 40 feet away
They swam to me
It was terrifying really

Nine mammalian torpedoes spinning and soaring towards me
All smiles
They're always smiling
Makes it difficult to tell if they're angry

I'm an uninvited guest in their living room after all
Floating around
Ungainly as an elephant in a tutu
Limbs all spread and flailing

"Most intelligent; friendly appearance; seemingly playful"
Wikipedia says so
And I'm sure I look to them like
"A fish out of water?"
A drowning alien

One swims immediately below me
On its back
Checking me out
It feels good to be checked out
Even by this slick and smiley torpedo

And I wonder what these creatures would think
If they could peer into our living rooms
They might be terrified too
But I don't think they would be impressed

In mythology, be it Greek or Hindu,
Humans are often found riding the dolphin

In dolphin mythology
Humans are wanton, graceless dullards
And, often, objects of ridicule

The Phoenix

Sometimes
your greatest strength
rises from the ashes
of your vulnerability

Rain and Blossoms

A billion tiny kisses plastered to the ground.

Licks and kisses pink on green,
the green grass of a west coast spring

A promise kept to us every year
through the grey wet winter

blossom blizzard
we call to the east and say
"yes, it's snowing here too!
...blossoms."

a billion pink wet kisses for the earth mother
this is love too.