During this pandemic time, I began to craft some short poems.
I posted them on Twitter.
I use 'tweet-size' as my creative boundary.
280 characters to say something: they are my 'twaikus'.
(You can find Volume 2 here.)
If they suck, at least they are brief.
I hope they don't.
-Dan
215
genocide
used to be evil in others
the past
faraway
mislead by demagogues
gas chambers
rwandan machetes
sarajevo graves
others
no longer
hundreds of children lie
buried to be forgotten
found in my neighborhood
families known to my kin
close to home
remembered
Dan Hines
2021
Photo by Dan Hines
tendrils pushing
splitting rock
seeking water
nutrient
solid in the earth
eating sunshine
sugar flows
the alchemy of leaves
outstretched hands to sky
i yearn to be so rooted
in trusting
to feed
by sunlight
on my skin
to offer sweet fruit
a soulful life
in season
Dan Hines
2021
photo by Jon Moore
irish
my ancestors starving
poor
left a green island
arrived refugees
landed on a turtle’s back
the next generation here
stole the land
for cattle
to build a life
montana alberta
i inherit it all
my body knows
violence
loss
oppression
my mind
coming
to terms
slowly
Dan Hines
2021
photo by Nils Nedel
rapture & rupture
one vowel differs
a world lies between
i rise into unity
bliss mystery
all that is
rapture
i dive into my wreck
wounds unhealed
the soulful DNA of calling
rupture
one vowel between
ascent
descent
this hopeful tragic place
i abide with you
Dan Hines
2021
photo by Kristopher Roller
bird on a wire
to be free
the poet reveals two voices
one voice begs
he is thin, crippled
he gently says
'it’s enough
be satisfied'
another voice offers
in a dark doorway
she smells of oranges
'there is much more
take it'
the drunk sings
-Dan Hines
2021
thank you L. Cohen for the song that haunts me
photo by Joshua Daniel
i managed a zoo
true story
Zara our young cougar jumped the fence
we found her
next to her pen
she was free
yet immobilized with fear
she returned to captivity
i desperately leap like her
beyond my imagination
my readiness to be free
how to run with wild abandon?
Dan Hines
2021
photo by Wilson Chen
disarmed
wedged on reef
ripped open hull
Capt. Cook ‘s Endeavour stuck
cannons dumped
ship lighter
no safety from pirates
free
defenseless
repair the wound
my protection is heavy
stuck
paralyzed
toss old weapons
free
defenseless
repair the wound
Dan Hines
2021
photo by Rowan Simpson
too much dwelling on today's news
the latest bombing in Kabul
my heart corrodes
my cynicism paralyzes
too much denial of today's news
flying above tragic reality
evading my role in injustice
compassion dies within
how to stand here?
open
heart tender
heart secure
Dan Hines
2021
photo by Scott Kelley
dumping
my advice all over you
is not what you needed
it was less painful
than sitting with you in bafflement
and sorrow
and mystery
you asked for my presence
that was all
i did not trust a grace in you
i do not control
because i doubt that grace is mine too
Dan Hines
2021
photo by Kristina Tripkovic
i have forgotten so much
books that inspired me
courses that changed my life
now i have only fragments in my memory
ah, my soul reminds me
it is all compost
the carbon, the water are used
nutrient & ash remain
i can grow food for myself and others
that is enough
Dan Hines
2021
photo by Edward Howell
you repeat that old story
tossing it up in the air
i have heard it before
you are threshing grains of memory
my patient attention is breeze that blows off chaff
you sift through the dense kernels
retaining the wisdom
i pray eventually you can make bread from this
Dan Hines
2021
Photo by Shalitha Dissanayaka
it does not help to pretend to be
someone i'm not
it costs me to maintain a façade
my ability to serve anyone is blocked
when i'm superficially there
my failures in relating
can be traced to behaving on the surface
in a way inauthentic
to what i'm truly sensing
feeling
thinking
Dan Hines
2021
Photo by Rhett Wesley
immune system
your soul has one
it keeps you safe
from me
when i hide coercion in 'help'
when i have an agenda
for you
when i veil analysis
seeing you as a problem
needing a solution
i trip your defenses
you protect your heart
you remember
Dan Hines
2021
Photo by Umesh Soni
inverse relationship
your complex life situation
and the usefulness of my advice
direct relationship
your complex life situation
and the usefulness
of my deep listening
quiet presence
open-hearted questions
Dan Hines
2021
Photo Tim Johnson
alas, here and now
and open
is all I have left to offer you
who I am in this simple knowing
how I meet you
the rest
the drama
is illusion
don't get me wrong!
I cling to delusional control
outcomes
and attachment desperately
Dan Hines
2021
Photo by Hans Vivek