paraffin & pigment

I will be a 72 degree day at 3 o'clock on an October afternoon

lying against you like Levi 501's
with one oval warm spot on the back of your right thigh where my hand fits
perfectly
I will be sunshine warmly speckled-brilliant on the weathered wood floor
as wind whips & shimmers the maple outside
I will be a bike ride sleek & silent
  beating back the wind & the world like a 13 year old superhero named Lilly Alabaster
I am music coming from around the corner, down the hall
music that hits the sternum
  scooping a trench straight to the heart and reaching
                 down
                          down
grabbing a hold
of
your golden core

(always the music)

I will be sheets cotton-cool-crisp that toss & invite
I will be rain pounding, pounding down intense & grey
with a thunder-green petrichor rising
I
will
be
and
I will not for one minute forget the sureness of an embrace or the roller coaster ride promised
  or the wonderland of this path
nor
will I demand maple syrup on a July night as
monarch butterflies find their home
in December
I am the gypsy-child-joy of hot chocolate
  wool mittens & rosy-cheek-snow-fort-building
the gingersnap of a winter walk
iridescent
and
glimmered--pearly-blue
magic & timeless
I am the view looking up thru Christmas tree lights from the floor
and when it is seven degrees below
I am flannel-sheet-surrender
fuzzy & plush like new white socks
  surrender's silence
here
perfectly outlined
pulled
scored
tucked
wrapped

She is
(you know)
more than you can carry upon your feathered back
unable to be pressed between pages
ink doesn't take to her opal skin
she flies against dread & discomfort so--
against the darkening that has pierced her bones
so long ago
so long ago
tempest & thyme'd

she flies

Defined

of boys & briars

blue love thinning
thinking
girlsong feeling
bumblebee listens to fortune's song
night swelling
anticipation
drawing the red line long
pressing into shadow's pages
and
kisses beneath pine boughs
belonging
filling the hole thunder-strong
reduction
seduction
of
sparrows & rhymes
briefly held against the shine

what rain is called on other planets

205 days of cornsilk smoothness
edged and pressed against the winter earth
held there by love & poetry
unbearable the weight of sky
i am white
a blue jay's feather lies beyond my reach
and then
       there is the loss
carved within the hollow of hope
colors & time seem stilled
soft
ripe with the wind's fluttering promise
205 days of vessel'd surrender
smooth love
tendered-blue-falling

the redemptive capacity of becoming

becoming beloved
to the budding crocus cup filled with
the dry snow of March
awash in the softness of morning
those sherbet linen garments attract the light
arms wrapped to self to hold tight the stars
bursting
with the recall of better days
what is a better day than this ordinary magic that lies in the dust
of sunlight and prairie winds
air that smells of wakening green
tongues held against licorice & peppermint tea
steeped at a quarter to seven
pain eased by posture & purpose
today is always the better day
this heart cracks wide for the rush of sorrow binding
cherish the steps my beloved
abundance lies here within this breath
tick-tocking
becoming

beloved 

du matin

essentials are stored long before dawn
memories and blankets and porcelain songs
water i know will fall from the sky
apples and whiskey in deep pockets lie
sails of poems rolled up with the scars
bundled--trundled--dotted with stars
my hands clasp the moment
tillered to day
distant shores call
the boat dances away

gray-blue the water slushing and cold
ruby-sunrise the unfurling of paradigms old
sky vast
body knowing
which tack to keep
the deeper
the bolder
the stronger i seek

to know that the curious always wins
to learn the vast secrets buried within
the magic that dwells in the fires of life
what love's tales tell in the clear morning light
just because i'm leaving
doesn't mean i won't come back
just because my heart looks dandy
doesn't mean it isn't cracking
cracks are openings to gems belied
tossed slivers waiting 'neath sliver tides

the day awaits
azure and liberating
this boat my bones
broken and arching
sails my words of fire and ice carving
this life blueness once
awoke to the whole
cast away from your shore
to sail evermore

Cistus

to have always been
something 
what is it--that gem?
that binds our blood to bone
mind to stones
our fire to our dark
that spark
are we one thing or many...
to have always been
of pages
of color
where dreams begin
embracing the oneness
of wild forests and vast skies
cut by the coldness
of
easy love's
choices
and sighs

when surrounded by dancers, i danced
when loved by lovers,  i romanced
weighed down by wounds
i scar
when thieves, i thief
when songs, i sing
when dirty, i clean
but when rocked
i paper
flat--forgiving
ashes to ink
tendriled and tethered--all the time lost
to accept being feathered
by scars and winter's blue frost

to now
trust
the path
the something unnamed
to speak in rhymes
to play the game
i trust the weight of all before
i sit with the diamond that lies at my core
not easy, not hard
it is what it is
mystical carpets there amidst stars
breathing and dreaming
of
poems
and art

to have always been
something 
that something 
who knows? 
a wee quantum bauble 
quixotic rockrose 

back to bowlegs . . .

the way you come in
is the way you go out

open & shining & riddled with doubt

breathe in the smoke,

wipe the ash from your eyes

you & the dogs

tag along for the ride

trails of wisteria, Seminole pines

mullen & sage, spring grass & rye 

hurry before darkness

hurry 'fore rain

circle past the thunder

to draw close again

and ...

build me a blaze

strong as your heart

dance with me around it

long after dark

piss on the fire 
and 

call in the dogs

head back to Bowlegs

with me in your arms 

three quarter moon hangs in the sky

wisdom of fire there in your eyes

as hope lies dashed

there upon stone

stars lift it up

and carry it home

adagio sun swells in the east

the lark will teach us to trust what we speak 

and we never saw 

or will see again

a morning like that

that atones & amends

so ....

build me a blaze

strong as my heart

let's dance around it

long after dark

bring on the thunder

bring on the storm

the north star forever lights the way home 

piss on the fire

call in the dogs

head back to Bowlegs

with me in your arms