It Always Begins With A Greeting

It Always Begins With A Greeting

New Moon   October 2, 2024

Things come undone as the process unfolds

while complicated systems language gets used today

I am still here to listen to hummingbird

the real one with her real voice who sings clear through

the entire morning sit down among cold leaves & dew

breath in & breath out, circling the possible

while she or he or they create their own coherence

say what needs be said at this time given all that is

& why now a glistening buzzing chattering marvel

with dark eyes & tiny noodle tongue curling out talks to us

as so much else occurs in every other sacred place

tells us it takes courage to return & rest, repeatedly

in the little valley, the falling-down shelter, of unknowing

to allow a gap where creator in coyote fur

sits atop a sloped hill to call greeting

to the whole black of a new day.

Poem by Qayyum Johnson.

Painting by Suiko McCall. Life is Always, Always in Relationship with Others, 2023. Ink on paper, 30×30″. suiko.art