Lentil Fest II

The bluegrass band
pounding banjo
and swinging violin
you couldn't help but bounce up off your heels
if you weren't already dancing.

A pulsing circle
straight from the Indian subcontinent
moving traditionally
straight out of Bollywood.

One stood in the middle
a different one each time
moving their hands
bounding their hips
and the others clap.

And I thought
once a year
these students leave dissertation
and research
to come to Pullman's Lentil Fest
and dance to bluegrass
and it made me happy.

Pagan

Our mothers-
danced under the full moon
singing pagan verse
to the trees, the sky, and the stars.

We know better now
God is our Father,
and lives in the bible
and in heaven
and in our hearts.

But as I travel under the full moon
on a field of white-
alone
and see Coyote,
Ceder,
and feel the frost,
I really can't blame them.

Dance mothers, Dance.

Planetery Tango

When two celestial bodies meet
as they travel through the sky-
they have three options:

Sometimes they swirl around each other
like a cosmic slingshot
and one sails into space
faster than when it started.

Sometimes they draw close-
spin around each other for a season
and crash together
becoming one.

Oh so rarely-
do they meet and orbit
around each other
a stellar waltz
into eternity.

As we travel through the sky
what do we want?
To spring from world to world?
To collide and unite?
Or to dance for all time-
through the void, together?

Happy Valentine's Day!