padre

Escribí esta canción para mi padre cuando se estaba muriendo.
A menudo me pidió que le cantan a él cuando sentía miedo o de dolor.
Me sentaba en la otra habitación, jugando con el canto piano, y él de alguna manera encontrar la paz en esta canción.
Es muy especial para mí.

All is well

with my soul

when perfections not a goal

All is well

All is well

with my soul.m

When I'm high

when I'm low

I just let go and not know

then All is well

All is well

with my soul.

It's like a boat I made out of a leaf, one day.

I climbed aboard

let the wind

carry me away.

Not knowing where I'd go

I just knew that it would be something

beautiful.

So just reach out

take my hand

theres no need for you to stand

All is well

All is well

with my soul

All is well

with my soul

when I learn to just let go

All is well

All is well

With my soul
 ~michelle 

growing roots

the hardest plant to root

was grown inside of me

the blossom of discovering

that inside

im always free.



the most difficult mountain i climbed

i did with one strong leg

reflected in its mountain stream

was a hill instead.



the saddest note I heard

once played inside of me

but silence overtook it

when i saw its song in me...

 ~michelle

unspoken

it is when a bird does flutter and all is lost behind the clutter

of words we spoke

and thoughts we tossed

the sea of doubt

the comfort of loss

behind the glow of safety we play

like children pretending when lost in a day

but i saw what you didn't want to say

and its clinched in my hand

released when i lay
  ~michelle

lack

One can learn a lot from a lack of a gesture

a lack of words

a lack of texture.

My mind gets swept up in your words unsaid

and keeps me awake lying in bed.

 ~michelle

once i...

stood at my dripping window
grass and trees
and paths and that
lay stretched out before me
and before
i knew it
i was running on the wet grass
it gathering between my toes
wet wind sculpting my hair.
and i was
grass and trees
and paths and that-
no distinction
and then
i stood at my dripping window
dry feet
tired hair
and typed this
  ~michelle

first date in the summer

grass stained scraped knees
dirty palms
bare feet
bugs on blanket

orange peels under finger nails
sticky hands
sticky cheeks
citrus teeth

hot naps in hot sun
matted hair
red cheeks
shoulders touch


pen drawings on hands
braiding strings on cut off jeans
meeting eyes
butterflies

walking home
with clover pockets
hand in hand
backyard beers
 ~michelle

papá ido dos años

you are still gone...
you not coming back?
squeezed eyes and muddy knees won't resurrect?

you put the "un" in conditional
do you know padre that no one ever does that?
you are the only person who has loved me with
no matter what

you put the listening in hearing
do you know padre that no one ever does that?
you are the only person who scooped up my words
blew off the dust and rocked them at night


you put the "non" in judgemental
do you know padre that no one ever does that?
you are the only person who saw beneath my human condition
to my heart

you put the gleam in eye
do you know padre that no one ever does that?
you noticed the skips in my walk,
the time in my gifts,
and the light in my eyes

today
my knees drew your love in
i put your dirt back under my nails
and maybe i can learn to love me the way you did

 ~michelle

sea see

sewn, whispers hung from her dry lips
cobwebbed hair pinned loosely to her head
smelling of lemon thyme
soft air when rain...

this
life
spraining my throat as it pushes its way out
inflamed by yesterday
tomorrows
and endings

why is it that a blade of grass is no longer sharp
in a field?

sea see sea see sea see
free fee free fee free fee

 ~michelle

i am a sailboat paralleling everything

i use to hate cold weather
i use to need the sun
to be happy
i don't
anymore

 ~michelle

1 and 3 and 1 and 3 and 1 and 3

so callously and cold
my cuppa feelin bold
threw me out in the cold

this marking on my map
tucked underneath a flap
to u i gave my map

wearily return to travel seas
new cracks and bruises on my knees
sail off on solo seas

where water's fingers slip
your kiss upon my lips
a moment my heart slipped

a journey in the wet
and you my special cuppa
a stain upon my map
and you my searching cuppa
songs of travel trees
and you my dearest cuppa
i am so glad i met
 ~michelle

gypsyroot

sadness caused a bellyache
so i dreamed a forest

 ~michelle

misty ride night song

Rain soak me
wash off what is not me

clean me
so that i can see
heal me
so inside i am free
pause me
so i can learn to be

Owl guide me when i am alone
follow me
when i need to roam
navigate me
when i lose my way home
find my heart when it has ...flown

Hill strengthen me when i am weak
let me summit when life gets bleak
guide me to your secret creek
quiet me when i shouldn't speak

Life teach me and i will gladly learn
holding tight upon your stern
when wind blows in i will not turn
i'll ride your waters as they churn
 ~michelle

personal stuff

sometimes i feel lost in this world without my pops...
he was the only person on this planet who got me.
i mean really got me
knew me so well...even the tiny burrows one only knows about themselves.
when we would be at family gatherings, or in rooms together and i would say something
that had hidden undertones, or i felt nervous or uncomfortable, or i told one of my stupid
jokes that no one gets...i would glance at him and he would give me the most understanding
wink...and i knew i was loved and known.
that's big shit!

without a map

i got lost
how can i find my way?

can you see me over here
rainsoaked and i'm drowning
ground so soft, i'll go to sleep
try again tomorrow.
  ~michelle

duality...truality (beat box background buzz)

as i tramped through the grass
i was stopped by a bee
who buzzed up real close and spoke words to me-
at first i was scared, cause your s'pose to be
but i swallowed it down and it drew close to me

"Listen up lady,
i got something to say
it just might affect where your going today.
As far as you know
i just like to sting...
this is only a shtick
i got more that i bring. You see, back with my pals, i am known to be nice
funny and sweet, with a vice for the dice.
In the town next to here,
they'd have something to say
about when i visit
in my "own special way!"when i'm here -i am this
when i'm there- i am that
but mostly i live without a format
inside i'm the same
cause inside i am much
without walls to contain me
with rules and such."


i waved goodbye
careful, for the bee
who had taught me a lot about how to be free.
letting go of the ties
that so often bind me.
 ~michelle

phone #7

oh i would never
i wouldn't ever
no i would never tell-
secrets are part of, part of this soil
live in this soil now.

oh i'd be careful if i were you
sometimes the truth makes them not love you
say what they want -to- hear...
  ~michelle

Tales From the Nomadic Tree

i just keep swimming
round this ol' tree
chewing the roots
to set myself free.

i've seen many colors
way up on the tree
a place that i know
would be perfect for me.

one day i began
to swim to the top
a trip i have tried
and failed quite alot.

and looking down gently, and kindly and sweet
the tree started chanting an encouraging beat
"swim, never stop, keep your head pointed up...
swim don't give up, for there's answers up top"

so i took a deep breath
said goodbye to my sea
and started the journey
that was just meant for me.
 ~michelle 

gratuit

One day I was beckoned
to follow the brook
that was babbling under it's breath
free fee free fee free fee free fee free fee free fee free
  ~michelle

featherless flights

there's a stream below nomadic tree
it's a place that i love
where the ancient gift of silent listening
flows freely.
if you listen carefully
you will find me in my tree
if you listen carefully
you will hear the songs i sing.
inside stationary movements
sits a box upon the hill
and inside she locks her secrets
and damnation's of free will.
  ~michelle

~notes to self~

slow down
moments hold awe
stillness
quiet
reflection
if focus is control or mere accomplishment
you will miss the cardinal watching you through the kitchen window
you will miss the secrets of the snail
you will miss the innocence of the moth
you will pass the wind and not smile
this will be lost
flow with the current
bend with the wind
sing with your soul
look with love
quiet your mind
remember it is better to listen and not speak
it is better to not need to be heard
do because
be because
laugh at worry's lack of purpose
follow your heart
it is your compass
soon you will be there, but now you are here
be because
love because
you will
have the home by the ocean
salt
sand
gray
mist
stillness
tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock


 ~michelle