1 New Poem

Songbirds

If I go first,
in the next life,
as a sparrow,
I’ll wake you with songs;

Our love will be simple then,
no more ink-black stains
of deep feeling to clutter
the picture, no more
shattering shouts to break
the silence of summer hours.

We’d still have distance,
but sharpened points would
be gone, just the echo
of sweet language unheard.

I could only touch you from
afar, see you through
windows and wires, an apparition
of what we shared once;

It was a mess
of glass, blood, sweat, spit, tears,
hacking screams in dark,

Before we moved to our new
places,

Before I could love you
perfect, through air

With songs in morning light.

1 New Poem

Evenings & Weekends

One day, all our
bookshelves will be organized,
our basement won’t have rats,
the water won’t collect at
odd angles to the foundation.

One day, the tree limbs
will reach in a riotous tangle
to god above the sky,
not cower in a broken form,
from the slice of blades.

One day, hearts will not
be so mineral, I will
cast light from every piece
of skin I have to shine
against the coming gray.

One day, we’ll cast off our coats,
dance free in rain, snow,
places hidden from glare
of great ills, the blistering
peace that chills an arid land.

One night, when things come alive,
the sparkling illusion leaves space
for withering love, toughened by
the silence of years, passed
between us, unnoticed in their grace.

1 New Poem

 4:27PM, Thursday

I am thrumming with the possible:
pangs of protest, violence,
stomach stirring;

As I sit with echoes
(bannerman in shadow),
knowing our songs

Will all be silence,
forms made anew,
reassembled to journey,

Electric against sky,
waves breaking beach,
wearing the sand

Smooth and broken,
polished for a danse
macabre, dizzy with strength.

****

There was a before,
there will be an after,
there is a now between,

That I live in,
with all possible things:
coursing currents

In my piece of time.