At Twilight I Become a Dog

author’s note:

To all the twilight lovers out there.


AT TWILIGHT I BECOME A DOG

This evening walking home from the woods
a wandering dog spoke me with its eyes
saying:
Like so many humans, you seem to love twilight.
Why?

After a moment of reflection
I arrived at this explanation:

“As the sunlight evaporates
 and darkness filters in

“as trees shade into silhouettes
 and the distance grows obscure

“the familiar becomes unfamiliar
 and suddenly
 I’m not so sure of my steps.

“So to compensate
 I open my eyes and ears
 and in that state
 of heightened sensitivity
 I again sense
 the strangeness of this place I inhabit

“and again realize
 our mundane world
 is always infused
 with a world unseen.
 Or rather:
 the two are always one.

“Ironic, yes—
 in my unease
 I experience wonder again.”

At the end of this spiel
the dog wagged its tail
and said with a grin:

You have good instincts, my friend.
Maybe someday
you’ll be brave enough
to hear and see and feel
as dogs do all day long.

How Can I Live In This World?: poetry book
dream steps blog
myth steps blog
you tube channel
© 2025, Michael R. Patton

When I Went for My Waterfall Blessing, I Found a Divine Dog

author’s note:

“What a feeling!”
        — Irene Cara, “Flashdance…What a feeling”


WHEN I WENT FOR MY WATERFALL BLESSING, I FOUND A DIVINE DOG

PART I

Today I went to visit the waterfall

as I do whenever
the mud and dust
of my life in this world
just seems too much.

When I stand beneath
the water rushing down
I imagine a blessing descending
on my bowed head—
cleansing me.
So when I emerge
I feel clear again
and for a moment
again feel the purity of my spirit.

But I believe we’re all
pure in spirit.
I need that belief
in order to accept
all the mud and dust
of our life in this world.

PART II

But when I arrived
at the end of the forest trail
I found a dog playing in the pool
beneath the waterfall.

Possessed by a dance, it was—
leaping up
trailing beads of spray
then landing down
in a winged splash—
a joyful rebellion against gravity—
a joyful acceptance of defeat—
spray
and splash
spray
and splash—
ecstasy.

But I’d come there for a blessing

so I waded around the canine
and stepped into the curtain
and let the full force of the fall
pound my head relentlessly.
The water cold but hot in its intensity.

Soon overwhelmed by sensation
I lost every dull thought in my head.

But when I stepped back out I saw
the dog had stopped its revelry.
Standing still, it stared at me—
head tilted to the side. Puzzled
by my trembling solemnity.

I didn’t want to ruin the dog’s frolic
by causing it concern
so I then began my own splash dance.
Which broke the spell—
in an instant the creature joined me.
We jumped up and down
and barked and laughed
and my feeling of purity
meshed with a feeling of joy.

Again I was the child I once was—
the one who’d rebel
against the mud and dust of his world
by going into a ritual
with just one rule:
dance—dance—dance
dance like a divine dog.

mythsteps · when I went for my waterfall blessing I found a divine dog

Myth Steps: poetry book
dream steps blog
myth steps blog
you tube channel
© 2024, Michael R. Patton

Universal Sigh

author’s note:

I can’t get through this poem without sighing.


UNIVERSAL SIGH

Science still hasn’t determined
the exact purpose of the sigh

but based on my own empirical research
I can state with confidence:

When we lack adequate language
we breathe a deep sigh
and in that way
give voice to the soul
and in so doing
ease the heart’s burden.

Yes—
my heart would’ve collapsed long ago
from the strain of being a human being
had I not occasionally exhaled
the sigh that expresses this wish:
If only things could be different.

But sighs aid in other situations as well.
For instance:

My heart stopped
when I first saw
that stark violet mountain

but then started again
when I released a deep sigh.

I believe sighs also help
the hearts of other creatures—
many times I’ve heard soul
in a dog’s sigh.  I’ve also heard soul
in the sighs of cats.

I remember the first time
I felt a tree sigh:

As I lay in the fallen leaves
beneath those bare black branches
what I felt in that sigh
was what I often feel in mine
when I listen deeply
and that is:

this life is too much for me
and yet, I want more life.

Based on empirical research
I say:
the whole damn Universe sighs!

I have felt the mountain sigh
as the stars appeared in the blue-black sky.
Then felt the soulful sigh
of the moon rising over the peak.
Then felt the stars sigh
as they gazed down upon me.

I then answered them all
with my own full sigh.

I always feel less alien
when I sigh along with the song
of the great Universal sigh.

mythsteps · Universal Sigh

Poet, Heal Thyself: poetry book
dream steps blog
myth steps blog
you tube channel
© 2024, Michael R. Patton

What the Sled Dog Found

author's note:

When one dog barks, one hundred dogs bark.
               — old Chinese proverb


WHAT THE SLED DOG FOUND

The sled dog
woke in the starry arctic night
with the strange sense
that somewhere out there in the darkness
a secret world waited to be discovered—
a reality as yet unknown.

So while her minders slept
she wandered away from the team
knowing she’d never return.

Searching for a fantasy, perhaps
but
considering the stress and rush
of her daily routine
perhaps not such a foolish act.

A season has passed since then
and she still hasn’t found
the trail to that mystery world.
And so her ache has only grown:

a pain of desire—
a desire she has tracked
down
and down
to new depths in the heart.

The feeling demands expression.
So every evening she sits down
and begins to howl
from deep deep down.

Recently, on a new moon night
a mad wind carried her howl
to a snow dog faraway
stirring him from his slumbers.

The feeling in the sound roused
a feeling deep within him
and so he also begin to howl
from deep deep down.

The start of a chain reaction, it seems:

since then one dog after another
has been perked by some version of the howl
and by responding
each has discovered a truth
deep deep down—
the desire for a life greater, grander
than the one they know now.

The sled dog may never find
that new world.  But
what she uncovers in her search
will awaken new life
in this old dog world.

mythsteps · What the Sled Dog Found

Get the Message: a short guide for understanding dreams
dream steps blog
myth steps blog
you tube channel
© 2024, Michael R. Patton

Introduction to "The History of Conflict"

author’s note:

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing
there is a field. I’ll met your there.
         -- Rumi (trans. Barks/Moyne)

INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF CONFLICT


For this book, we interviewed
both a dog and a cat at length.

But we spoke to each separately
to avoid arguments between the two:
we didn’t want to add yet another tragedy
to a tome filled with tragedies.

However
the publisher asked
that the dog and cat
be photographed together
for purposes of promotion.

We feared the worst.
But instead the moment revealed the best:

as dog faced cat and cat faced dog
each saw the sadness in the other’s eyes--
saw how the other also felt
a burden of pain made heavy by
centuries--centuries--
of dog and cat fights.

Whenever I feel the need
to bolster my hope for the future
I recall that scene
of shared grief.

myth steps blog
dream steps blog
Butterfly Soul: poetry ebook
© 2022, Michael R. Patton

Inferno Dog

author's note:

I believe the whole human race has entered the borderland.


INFERNO DOG

Last night, I again saw that dog
with the spinning inferno eyes--

the one that wants
to lead me from this scrub land
and into and through
the forest so dense.

In a previous dream
I'd stopped at that twilight border--
afraid to enter the extreme
shadowy wonder...
even with the guide dog.

However this time
I forced myself to step

only to trip
over my own shoelaces:

as in other dreams
my laces had somehow gotten tangled.

So once again, I knelt down
and worked to un-knot knots

as the dog watched,
a smile at the corners of its mouth--
it knows I know
I can't escape the inevitable.

© 2018, Michael R. Patton
my war for peace: poetry ebook