morning at the beach

smooth cedar branch falls
among tall green grasses
part hidden, part snake

clouds with peak a boo
blue showing through
sun as yolk-- as all things

 are changing, nothing
stays the same; like tides moving
in and out and in

skittering egrets
in between fatter seagulls
pure parallel worlds

round smooth bright white rocks
picked up for rock garden home
recycling beauty

tall sea grasses wave
free styled--outdoor beauty parlour
blows warm salty sea wind

silver green grasses
wind singing soft arias
ascending whole notes

Kate Lamberg

lowest tide at inlet

tide moving in seems
to flow faster than when
it starts to move out

like childhood review:
upon looking-our memories
flood our vision quicker

than when we do look
at the closing of this life:
the last chaptered door

speed of visions are
relative to perspective-
candle wax melts

into a puddle,
picturing first grade;
both sides of candle wick

harden as we blow
out the candle's flame--
focusing on

what's going to happen
five years from now;
finding ninety five cents

in the parking lot--
same day a friend dreams
we were ninety five years old

i sent the vibration;
he received through etheric field~
poppies dancing between coasts

Kate Lamberg

soul journey

    
“Your soul knows the geography of your destiny. Your soul alone has the map of your future, therefore you can trust this indirect, oblique side of yourself. If you do, it will take you where you need to go, but more important it will teach you a kindness of rhythm in your journey.”
― John O'Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom   


kindness in rhythm

as if no beat can be mean
she waltzes outside

parched grasses sing crunch
her toes seeking cool comfort,
shaded dewy grass


ambling slower

the beat of her feet on this
hot parched summer lawn

her song without sea
moisture (cool blues, sheen of green)
heat- -reds dominate

back pressed up against
secure, sure- rough pine bark tree
she writes from the place

she can only write from
her own natural rhythm
dropping like  wet bugs

on dry thirsty sheet-
as only kindness is her
beat--words falling short

Kate Lamberg
6/30/12

begin doing

“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand ... and melting like a snowflake...” ~ Francis Bacon, Sr.



if it takes  being quiet  (listening intently)
for the rest of our lives
to discover what        (to our apple core)

our heart must do   (then we must trust)
each moment,  a bit of sand
making a mountain   (our precious life)

from one thought   (naturally bursting)
building foundations of worship
spilling good graces  (renewing lifetimes)


Kate Lamberg
6/20/12

patience

Nothing great is produced suddenly, since not even the grape or the fig is. If you say to me now that you want a fig, I will answer to you that it requires time: let it flower first, then put forth fruit, and then ripen. ~ Epictetus,

patience provides time,
space--- earth birthing-- sun & rain
for all to flower

Kate Lamberg
6/28/12

beech tree

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity … and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the person of imagination, nature is imagination itself.” ~ William Blake

beech tree, alongside
pond-- moves us to stop, sigh, dream-
as we move 'round pond

beech tree tells  secrets
if we were to be quiet enough-
heaven opens

secrets leak out of
feet into ground, as we go
walking--sharing peace

Kate Lamberg
6/26/12

living the mystery

"Life is not a question to be answered. It is a mystery to be lived. "
~Siddhartha Gautama Buddha


agenda-less days
unfold like newly found quilts
spiraling bright joy

Kate Lamberg
6/27/12

poetry born near water

I grew up in this town, my poetry was born between the hill and the river, it took its voice from the rain, and like the timber, it steeped itself in the forests.
 ~Pablo Neruda



i was born on the north shore
of an island, longer than it is wide
at one time i was embarrassed by this
now i am neither proud nor ashamed

a form of rebirth
learning to swim, diving in,
releasing-- my soul

climbing trees, i climbed so high
wishing to touch the sky- i fell
on my belly, not being able to cry

learned at age ten, some pains
cannot be expressed- when the wind
is naturally knocked out of you

i was born near water
and many trees who became
instant friends--a source

of joy and pain, like sun leaving
and swimming in the lake in the rain
singing underneath an upside down canoe

running at dusk in deerskin moccasins
without a clue to animal rights
only thinking of a strawberry shortcake

from the ice cream man ringing
leaving jump rope friends,
spilling some sweetness on the curb

to scratch and sniff
four decades later- musty feathers,
southwesterlies, wishing &
helping to fan this joy

Kate Lamberg
6/24/12

kindness

Being kind is always a strength."
 ~ Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche


it's being, not seeing
that unfurls the flowered truth
kindness being stronger
in her tireless opening

choose to be kind,
no matter what
the trend of hairstyles

the height of ocean waves
bringing you in, water's
curve making caves

choose to be kind, whether
the sky predicts more rain
or a succession of dry days

what you at one time
thought was weakness
waxes, wanes, becomes

the strength of crazy glue
keeping mind and soul sealed
together, throughout
all kinds of weather


Kate Lamberg
6/24/12

sitting together

we sit together
the mountain and me, until
only the mountain remains
~li po

we sit by windows
air cleansed by passing shower
only flowers and trees

we step through barriers
glass, coral, wood, steel, clay, ice
floating with substance

body's buoyancy
mirrors oceon's saltiness-
seamlessly dancing

sky's endless pleading
dissolving back sliding down
mountain- we rise as we fall

Kate Lamberg
6/22/12

gateless gate

The Great Way has no gate; there are a thousand paths to it.
~Wu-Men (1183-1260)


gateless gate, great way
we can all swing you wide open
all at once we pray

Kate Lamberg
6/22/12

instinct for newness

There is in us an instinct for newness, for renewal, for a liberation of creative power. We seek to awaken in ourselves a force which really changes our lives from within."-- Thomas Merton



fire within shall get us through
these tangled grape vines, this need
to say what's true, when all we do
is raining soul's countenance


in silent worship, waxing days
the shortness of night, the brevity
of shadows, shakes spirit alive
to lunge on rivered banks, bee hives


dig deliberately in new soiled
environs saturated with sun's fullness
she cannot help but spill her depth of heat;
we acknowledge, moving to shaded peat


the coolness surrounding what is new
as first lovers cannot help but do
and we too, blinded by noon day sun
respond in kind(ness)--do not run

embrace the willow without need
to understand the lyric buried beneath;
melody, traveling upwards, becomes soulsong-
carrying our thirsty souls along


Kate Lamberg
6/1/12

beach walk reverie

i see your wooden horse
looming up to scratch the sky
gasping, i stop in my tracks



cool my tired feet
in rushing saltwater bliss
try to look beyond



small precious sea birds
sing tinny incessant tunes
skitter scatter brave

clear mind

" let your mind become
clear like a still forest pool" ~buddha

clearing the teak decks
opening the starched white sails
moving through calm waters

Kate Lamberg
6/3/12

pine needles wave

"nobody knows what they are, saying,
"needles three to a bunch"
~Gary Snyder


pine needles wave in wind,
her uncompromising scent
invigors a resinous awakening

we could walk past her--
but her aroma pleads
so we stay and sit

upon drier needles,
sticking to our thighs-
mind quieting

our backs against her thick bark
spewing scent, infinitely
(we are free to leave)

we stay to soak up
her piney essence
making it our own

no boundaries for now
tree bark and erector spinae
dancing as one limb

Kate Lamberg
6/6/12

tramping, after Thoreau

I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech-tree, or a yellow birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines. ~Thoreau


on a given day, if i feel out of balance
i realize it's usually not what i ate,
or whose company i shared;
it's more my not being
among nature's sweet sheen,
her multicolored blanket of awakening

as if she really cared, where i've been;
no dear lady,  it's my missing thee:
that huge rock, fields of waving ferns leaving
me dizzy; the cluster of downy ducklings,
the rising &  the dropping-
scales of water within the pond,

rippling blues and greens,
my circumambulations around
the small still waters
where poems are spun-
dreams once buried, become

spring shoots, filling,
spilling over trellis....
painting pinks on roughened pine;
contrasts curtailing the busy mind-
a perfectly unfurled rose,
unequaled equipoise


Kate Lamberg
6/9/12

we are so much more

One moon shows in every pool; in every pool, the one moon. ~ Zen Saying


we are so much more
alike than different; let us
celebrate our sameness

one sun warms all souls
in all souls, sun illuminates
we meet at this bright point

one cool moon shows up
at exactly the right time
casting a common glow

hot sun, cool moon.. dance
for all being's enhancement-
shall we dance as one

we are so much more
within our common earth bound ties
than rowboat floating solo


Kate Lamberg
6/10/12

virtues are treasures

“Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.”
~ Buddha

beneath and between the rocks
a cool clear stream is letting
green moss, dappled light grow

Kate Lamberg
6/11/12

sunlight pours

Meditation is one device which brings us closer to our source. Any action done with meditation is authentic and is not influenced by Mind. Meditation liberates man from the slavery of Mind. With meditation what ever we do is as fresh as a new Born Baby. All that corruption which Mind has done to us loses its strength against Meditation. Meditation is the only medication.----OSHO

sunlight pours through crown
serpentine, flows through body
we bridge heaven and earth

Kate Lamberg

stepping through

stepping through
this black and white beauty

palm trees, like palms in hands
tell of good fortune

clouds, eclipsing the sun
speak of soul's riches

impossible to see
with the naked eye

we dress our vision
with horn rimmed glasses,

summery semi-transparent
clothes, swinging tunes-

let body reach moons;
skirting some issues--for others

to emerge above sea level-
what was once impossible

to see, now revealed
in peaches, cherries:

spurting juices, dribbling
plainly- pure harmony


Kate Lamberg
6/12/12

surrendering to a feeling heart

All of our reasoning ends in surrender to feeling.
~Blaise Pascal


thinking myself in knots
as cats play with a ball of yarn
only difference is my yarn

is traveling in a multitude
of directions: rivered thinking
cooling stress of decision making,

mountainous thoughts, as lofty
pulling cerebrum to heights,
swirling around canyons

drifting back to the slow cool
river running out of new thoughts
flattened waters, hardly swelling

giving way to deeper feelings
stripping need, as birch bark
for canoes..these thoughts
so tiring in their tapping

this is not maple syrup season
let the maple tree just be;
heart surrenders to feeling state,

within this dry thinking country;
sturdy narrow bridges
still carry us beyond

the overstated mind fields,
dry river beds, gather drops
of rain from cooperative green
efforts of prayer pools:

collected jewels
from every corner
of the globe, listening...
stone in pond vibrations,

as anahatta chakra
the core of the heart
spins in clockwise fashion

re-instilling all we need to start
this path of greater wondering;


returning to reel to reel
feeling states, with a strong
collective vibration in regions

growing pure non gmo
wheat, corn, barley, soy
in the center of our chests

we can- be fearless,
once again, and for all-
know peace, and rest

Kate Lamberg
6/19/12

dreaming and living in color

Colour! What a deep and mysterious language, the language of dreams.
 ~Paul Gauguin

dreaming in color-
hot red sun melts
into a tangerine rind

upon a cool blue lake
spanning forever, gazing
upon lush green woods

oh what seizes us
in our patterned dreams:
opening our eyes

to figure what it means:
what's true for us, gently
tugging us awake

living color- spilled blake
brilliance in blue winged words&
paul's plenaire strokes-- breathing

where dust was trapped;  now
corners are free to roam, up
apricot walls, out basil green doors

meeting sage life-- making it
our own fertile delicacy,
nourished in the citrusy silence

inspired by paul gaughin and william blake

Kate Lamberg
6/20/12

be a u ty

"Beauty, unconscious of itself is life"
Robert Hass

what is this beauty
wrapped in silken song
that plays incessantly
for ears, grasses

wooden docks
hand painted bears
within "on time" clocks
swan families clustering

the yelp of geese
alongside airplane's roar
the opening and closing
of ever body's door

church bells ring
signifying nothing
but a  reminder to
pray at every stop sign

not to depend on meter
or rhyme; but if it takes you
as a southwestern breeze
you let it bring you

a plain and fancy prayer
to your patella-ed knees
flies buzzing trends
doing a cakewalk

on a narrow well worn path
half-heartedly we are lead
saying to self, "this too shall pass":
the tears, angers, wrath

sabbath, shining new light:
as we hold the torn pages,
light buoyant-- like loving restores

Kate Lamberg
6/15/12


egret in flight~