The Truth About Tigers

Many thanks to Barbara Leonhard for accepting and publishing my poem, The Illusion of Separateness today on Masticadores USA. I encourage you to visit their site and dive into the wonderful collection of poems they feature!

Each connected, all impermanent.
But you already know this,
because it was you who first spoke to me
about the waves and the ocean
and the clouds to begin with.

Crest and fall, rejoin, never
having left, nothing to abandon, just
a lofty stretch and a return to the essence,
as the gulls of curious thought
feather-paint the drifting mist.

A sun-warmed sigh, drawing it all
back home, belonging
to ourselves and to no-thing,
while the deep-swimming monsters
sometimes breach the surface,

and utter their deep calls
of mischief, their lidless eyes,
reflecting all the light we cast,
a delicate dance between flame
and shadow — they are also us.

Where whispers of waves soothe the shore,
we find solace in the cycle, the delicate flow
of being and becoming in this shared journey, connected,
accepting the transient nature of all.

But of course, you already understand
all of this, because you were the one
who first showed it to me,
when I was still paddling alone
against the illusion of separateness.

This poem, The Illusion of Separateness, was first published by Masticadores USA on April 26th, 2024. I am grateful to the editors for featuring my work.