Whereabouts and a poem

A friend recently commented that I've been quiet here. He'd wondered where I'd gone. My apologies! The truth is that I've been lost in my imagination -- writing. 

I decided a few months ago that it was time to dedicate myself more seriously to my writing than just spontaneous spits and spurts. Since then, I've been running with a group of characters in two different stories -- ideas that came to me in my dreams. It's playful work. I'm really enjoying these characters and the stories they're sharing with me. I plan to one day share them with you in a published format. 

In the meantime -- a poem:

labyrinth

skipping rains

kiss my fingertips as i lean out

and talk to the 

grandmother tree at 11pm.

she calls me "dearie"

and dries my tears with her leaves.

they leave chlorophyll residue on my cheeks

and i tangle myself up in her arthritic branches

to feel earth's heartbeat.

there is no separation.

i sink like alice

into the underworld.

there, a minotaur asks me to walk

the labyrinth with him.

we stroll like old friends

and he tells me the point 

is always to come back to yourself.

in the center i meet a masked man

who tells me he asks.

"asks what?"

"precisely."

there are no answers here.

boreas sweeps up under my feet,

carries me home

to my slumbering self

and to the faeries

that dance on my bed

and whisper riddles in my ears
while i dream.

inside.

outside.

step forward.

turn around.

hold tight.

there's another corner to turn.

turning, turning, spinning.

i get tagged.

"you're it!"

(copyright 2011)