stretch

i have a remarkable ability to remain very present while at the same time traveling east in a direct
air-current line to where you are to sit in the warmth of your breath to inhale the very same air that you do while maintaining the illusion of presence and attention to all the things requiring said presence and attention as i lean upon the maple just outside my window feeling the harsh coarseness of its bark against the thin paper fragility of my skin and soul i can be tethered upon this land this life long enough to weave a coat from the tendrils of mind and memory tracing tracing back to you back to us and that day that you remembered remembered that we were always leaning one upon the other water to polaris fruit to hand board to nail ship to sea surrender to hollow skin to bark
amidst the smell of leaves burning hearts yearning hands leading souls all souls fly away to the point of ignition with light transfixed by the play of shadow and sun upon the very same maple's leaves turned to saffron sunshine cooling cooling to the march of winter's breath stay with me
stay. with. me.
here against that solemn dusty bark stripped of clothes and artifice and possibility

healing becomes a promise of illusion's hour 

pieces

give voice to the basement children
wounded pieces ferocious & furrowed
mouth taped shut
deep cuts
song silenced
banished to the nevermore
cornered & caught
sixty year war

these words

ink out the tempest
soothe the fire
rearranging--twisting the collide of desires
defining friction
with
labyrinthine burrows of dark benediction

where is the brightness?
where the bloom?

here
here .... come away from the blight
come to the warmth of vast open light

here

at long last ... seen
colors
masks
moonlight obsidian
flannel diamond expedition
parched quantum fission

these parts weathered each moment with all that they knew
these parts named--ordained in a Breakfast Club coup

long may you rumpus! long may you rest
wounds unburdened in my storybook quest 

Castanea

spiny burr
clustered on the branch
tufted husk of pale armor
guarding the cream upholstered flesh
softness smooth
grooves adhered tight to pellicle
gentle pressure popping free
one, two, three
sweet fruits to hold
of
umber rich revealed
seed to ripeness
outside
to
in
spine to furrow
hard to smooth
captive youth