The Loon

In the mad mirth

Of mountain stillness

I sink like a flower

Float like a stone

Drawing nothing to me

Turning over now to

Dive deeper where

It's dark

I see the green light

Shafted and shifting in

Silent arcs above me

Not after fish

I surface

Without intent

And call.

JvL 1990's

Homing Smidgeon

It's time to fix the front door

put a painted panel on it

where the panicked dog

scratched through;

plywood will do.

It's time to fix the back door

open up its cover

let the arch'd window show

let the light in from

the East

It's time to thank the side door

for all its timely exits

when earthquakes come

and won't stop shaking

til they're done,

that one.

It's time to open that door, that one,

the one that doesn't shut

the one without lice or nice,

melt or ride, lintel or hook,

hey perfect stranger,

gotta light?

isn't it true

you were walking

both hands held

and holding

isn't it true

you had two children

with you

outside then

isn't it true

you gripped their fingers

hard their

hands in yours

even their arms

isn't it true

they are gone now

simply gone

it's true, isn't it

you are left now

not sure your

heart can hear

welcome, can bear

tears or waves or

ghost mist wrapped

in small trees.

Saranoya

3/31/11

Over Easy

I have come this far, this far for you—

Don't turn me away

Invite me in, though your doorstep

opens into freefall

Grasping nothing

my heart is in my mouth

cho.

I have heard the morning bird

I have seen the evening star

Call to me, call to me, call as

once did your hearth

Now I'm slowing down

gaining ground

we know come what may

time goes away

from here on out.

3/9/11

Milky Way

If there's one thing I'll say to you, darlin' I know

It's time to keep living (loving) and time to let go-

Here's a doorway

There's a steep hill

Here's a way to go through (there's a side exit too)

So lick your lips and exhale-

Let the unknown call you

CHO:

Have some Milky Way Sundays

to wrap around your waist

Cinnamon and salt breeze

Should do what it takes//

To get here from there

While you're still passing through

Let the old dog keep grinning

Who's playing with you.

For Duba

9/05/09

Memory

Let's play hide and seek,

Run! Hide behind the tree

You can count the stars,

I'll drop on my knee.

Yes, you might find me

Tho, I'm still as time

You would have to turn around,

Catch me in a rhyme.

Last night

I saw a green-marble

roll through the light

in a glass

It centered when

it settled so

I thought the past

could stay past

Later by two days

the phone woke me

it was my

dementing

Beloved

whose mother took fright

drove through

the picture window glass.

What was she seeing then?

____ I search for the

word love now

when he calls.

Not soon

enough bird song will

wake me, and I will

remember

He

enlivened my life

called me each morning

to say hello.

More of Jane's poetry seems to be excavating itself as the years go on.

These are poems sent to me in 2025 from Jane's beloved niece, Hannah.