Spirit Rift – Collaboration

Sand grains massage our feet,
Waves hit our ankles, toppling our sandcastles
No, we’re not sad, but we’re definitely a little salty,
Literally — our toes watered, sand-drenched-deep
In the warmth of mother earth’s caress —
Absorbing all that we can sea
Past the sun-kissed vanishing point
To us, the Sun sets how it rises;
We are strangers to the darkness and it’s cherry covered lips
The evening? What’s that? 

We are one — an extension — Permutations of the light
We are wherever it is.

Sun rise, sun set, moon rise, sun rise
Blink and the future has become the past
Afternoon? Day break?
We stand still and clouds wax, then wane
The salt-encrusted waves brush our shins
Retreat
The great work of our hands melt
Harden and melt right before watering eyes

Sadness holds our hands
We shiver but stand firm
Part of something greater we will never be a part of
Cracked lips smile and part
Teeth glowing from inner light
Laughter spills like tears
We grow

–  And grow, far-reaching — think liana vines intertwining,
Precisely how our minds move and wander,
Travelling past stars littering the cosmos,
They’re all over the place;
It’s no insult when you say we’ve since lost them

No metric for the merging of gifted imaginations
Hardly human, yet a brush with barbed wire still leaves us bruised
Surprise-surprise, mouths agape when our blood leaks with an ethereal glow,
To pass time, we play squash using the end of this universe
In-between ricochets, we convey the entirety of that experience through verse.

“What’s that in the air?” – “Is it a bird?” –  “Is it a plane?”
No, it’s simply our minds coming back.

Coming back, coming back
from winding paths and circling constellations
It’s all a game, isn’t it?
games and gains
Points received and penalties taken
We morph, grow; expand like dark matter
pushing us faster and faster
to the edges of the unknowable known universe
The further out we look
the further in we perceive
in reality it’s push-and-pull
all coming back again

The dream-verse surrounds and engulfs
Lifting cliffs of fantasy and rivers of science
Fields full of poppies and poetry
A sky dusted with possibility
An ocean seized with salted lust

Salt, salt, yes, minerals coating toes
We dip in and retreat
Shift from one foot to the other
Watching the horizon, time slips

Like our souls during an ephemeral passage into a spirit rift
Say hello to the terrestrial embodiment of your unspoken spirit guides
Language is recursive, and this piece fits snugly at the end of it
Each flick of the wrist with that raw earth ink uncovers secrets of the galaxy
Take care to go slowly, rein in the need to OD on the knowledge;
Digest at varying paces but let nothing fly over your head

We strike the balance with little to nothing to show for tipping the scales
A sample of humble pie to go with our cup of due pride
We were always told to dine on a balanced diet
And this is it — two burning souls cooking all waking senses
Leaving them simmering, don’t you worry;
All you need do is form a single file
For there is plenty of love, clarity and empathy
For all.

O.D. + tara caribou | ©2020

Always a pleasure to read O.D.’s fine writing and such an honor to write with him! He’s got some great conversations going on over on his website, originaldante.