When you see no difference between sea and sky
Only darkness knowing your name
Pepper the world in strands of stars
The fire that built your bones
From the ocean’s depths to the shadowed moon
Bright constellations sing in lilting light
Their melody holding you far too precious
To brand your heart in hollow words
Hold embers close to echoes
Whisper too soft to hear,
Call me brave.
Look up.
The very canopy under which you exist is larger than you.
The soil beneath your aching soles stretches for farther than your arms could ever hope to envelop.
You are small.
Do not let that frighten you.
Allow the big, grand world to take you in.
The moon hangs in clouds soft as birthday candle breath
Breath hangs in the air lingering on hope to return to the warmth of my chest
You can tell the world what I wished for,
It has already come true.
Clad in ferocious domesticity
She will care so hard it blisters her soul
Knowing full well the calluses
Make it hard to call herself "pretty"
I know that you’re afraid
I am too
When the wind comes rushing into your open window
And the rain turns your lashes into piano keys
Close your eyes to play the only song you have left
Open your arms and hold the storm as though it’s familiar.
When we're in those woods together
I feel my feet ache to the tiptoe tune of wind on rocks
Moonshine hush on fallen logs
Where we rest our heavy heads and headstrong hearts
I surrender my skin to the soil
My thoughts to the wonder
Let me go.
Daydreams slip from your fists like pennies
Dripping copper sunbeams to light
The places you first forgot
When did your lamplight leave my skyline?
All the trees died in the lightning
Even the ones shouldering green
And we met in the valley
Where I lost you
In-between
The nonsense of brilliance lingered
In the evergreen
Where you’d been trying to trace maps
You forgot how to read
Between the
Blush of
Sweet wine
And burnt coffee
Barefoot march
Through the trees
Cradle eyes
Watch over me
Head held high
Rosy cheeks
Starlight peels
Through bitter breeze
I’ll show you places
You thought you’d lost
Soft light and faces
You cradled, forgot
Between the
Raised voices calling
Your comfort to bed
Well stop here,
Sleep well,
Rest your tired head.
When I met you the poetry
That once domino-ed from my fingertips
Flew like flocks of sparrows
From the aching bones of willow trees
I try to write you an epic
And instead stand up to pour another cup of coffee
I wish that I could craft something
That would echo off the sunspots on your shoulder
Syllables that seemed sweet in dreaming
Can't catch the butterflies in my stomach each time I walk through the door
I don't know how to write the tiptoed bubble of our laughter
When we're dancing across the kitchen floor in sock feet
Words never felt so hollow
As when asked to presuppose
The entirety of
My favorite verse
I want to ask you to tell me a story
Tell me about the time we spent the twilight chasing dreams under the old oak tree
Till we fell into the grass, our laughter singing symphonies with evening melody
Hold my hand and tell me
You’ll still love me, when my arthritic fingers
are bent with age
Open your world to me
Let me step in quietly
On toes soft as the first steps of the night’s last waltz
Dance with me,
And when the song ends,
We’ll teach our hearts
To hum.
Joni Mitchell at 2 am
Held your soul like a church bell hymn
If that’s not grace, I don’t know what is
You’re bright red blood on these chapped lips
Closet walls still bear the scars
Of making wishes in the dark
Charcoal drawings you stole from me
Home got lost in memory
When I was a child I would sing to you
I'd climb up to the wooden rope swing in the old oak tree sheltering the tiger lily meadow
My hymns and summered legs keeping time to your beating heart
Acorn, lavender, and molasses moonshine
Confetti down from the branches you cradle
Summered soles on warm tar
You can be daytime tomorrow
Let me hold you while they sleep.
Shush the tiptoe second hand on your watch
For the way my heart beats on the off-beat
On the off-chance that these holes, all along
Were the seams of your stars
Wash my bones
Till they’re cleaner than my conscience
These lungs on loan
From the day my dust was light
Call my bluff
Tell me home is where the heart is
You’ve had enough
But your soles keep touching ground
When the dust of my bones
Is folded gently into soil
Turned with water
Bled from swollen clouds
Breath broken and chilled
Inhaled by roots of rivers and willows
I hope my heart won’t shatter
When you hear the noise
The rain makes as it whistles
Shushing hollow homes
Tasting ripe apologies
I’m sorry
The sour insincerity
Quietly anchored
In shaky hands that just won’t still
Ever and always a sullen reminder
These knotted storms with beating chests
Can’t sing.
I remember skipping stones
Touching notes I’d never heard
I remember stepping stones
Pebbles between my toes
I left a daisy crown on your bed
Wine drunk and half asleep
The dust of days
Wrapped in palmed pages
Read them when you're alone.
Little sparrow with your broken wings
Why do you always look so sad?
Build me up and break me down
All that shattered was my trust
Don't worry, sweet morning bird
Fractures heal
And you can sing.
