Her look was warm as summer dawn,
there was a lightness as she stepped
as if the ground was almost a cloud,
her beauty a casual dream sun-swept.

The last time I saw her she sang
a song of stream and swelling hills,
the sky alive to her lilting melody
backed by a covey of whippoorwills.

She’s on her way to full release;
solid witnesses to her teachings
stand by with glances into clarity.
Her mind plays – it’s far-reaching.

All through this lonesome night
I’ve heard cries from the forest;
her absence pervades in silence,
a wind starts up out of the west.

Selected byRaymond Huffman
Image credit:Sebastien Unrau
RC James

I work with words, sounds and images to come up

with combinations that hopefully do justice to Socrates’

maxim of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

I do believe that the voice is a necessary part of the

full poetic experience, along with music and movement,

even if it’s a movement of the hands or eyes.