A Tree

A tree behind
a window paneled door
stays out of focus
if I focus
on blemishes in the glass

I make it move
inside the window frame
by closing one eye
then the other

Bare and dormant
with the possibility
of spring

What if I open the door
and step out
onto thin air?

Relax (for Chris)

The strangest things show up

in the corner of the bookstore shelf

behind the book I want for you

about a ship

called 

            the Unknown Island

an empty ice-coffee bottle

I pull it out and do a double take

Like you showed up

when I wasn't looking for relationship

I read the bottle

It says

                Relax

Hands

It's amazing how the body remembers itself
You say, handprints pushing through the scabs
Your hands are the last part to relax
Always ready to catch the next fall
Tuck, roll and bounce back

I love you professionally with my hands but it isn't enough
We love each other with our whole being

Love is like a river
You can't swim in the same river twice

Charon death's boatman carries you to sleep

I have heard that if you give too many massages
Your fingerprints rub off

I rub my own feet, face, shoulders
Imprinting myself with myself

I wrap myself in this version of you

Love is like a river holding me up with thousands of hands
You can't float on the same river twice

Independence Day 2012

Fireworks fall from the sky
Gently as dreams
Rosy star of contradiction
Pursued by happiness

Are we ever truly independent?

Limbs spangled under the blankets
You fold me in your arms and legs
Strangers entwined in each others' smells
Spreading warmth

Is this what people mean by love?

Then you turn and cradle your cat
Imagining the sounds of distant war
As close as you'll ever get

The bookseller bemoans the end of journalism
As I lament the death of books
Under silent stars, writing myself to sleep

Looking at Maps

A wall of ocean teases our feet

We warm each other on the cold beach

In the setting sun skin is softer than sand

Your heart is far away

Where your mother is dying

Deep in your heart

A wound you can pour prayer or alcohol over

But it never heals

Hard as a shell, spiraling inward

Your children are drifting like continents

Time is precious

There is a world to explore

And there you are, looking at maps