One Moment

I took a screenshot

at 1:11 today

since it was 1/11.

I thought that something 

fantastic might happen

Instantly.

But we just

kept walking

the dog.

Of course I realized

that strolling slowly through

our neighborhood

with you

in the sun

on a Wednesday

is the very definition 

of fantastic

The Opposite of Power

Finally,

The darkness.

We forget the world is

completely silent,

beneath the constant

ball of whirling noise

we keep ceaselessly

spinning.

Outside:

the rain

a few loan cars.

Inside:

two candles

and a brief respite

from the current

Past

I pushed you back,

away from the space

around me.

It takes all my strength

to keep you there.

At times

you start to bleed

back through.

I wonder

if it matters

if you chose your road?

And I realized

just this moment,

that either way,

it's yours.

And I need 

to let you keep

the path you forged.

For who am I 

to redraw any lines

but mine?

Shadow

I turn to face you,

knowing you

can never look me in the eye.

And yet I cannot live

without your power:

Black to my white,

Light, illuminating

variations:

the depth and breadth

and every other nuance.

My forgetting the steps,

starting new:

each moment

a clean brush

Visitor

He saw you swoop in

wings stretched against fading sky

I would not have seen you

I was facing away

You pondered us as time breathed

Blended with the dark bare tree

then circled back the way you came

The great weight of your body

Carried on endless wings

Rebirth

Dismember,

remember:

I hadn't noticed

how these words

interplay.

Destroyed by fire,

torn apart limb by limb,

by any number of animals -

I know,

It seems disturbing.

But in a dream,

we might only hope

to be reassembled

from ashes,

from chaos,

by the very same animal

lifting, assembling

as a raven would build her nest:

with twigs, scraps of bright fabric -

with the care

of a mother

Back

Same path,

but each stone new -

prints faded,

sunlight shifted west,

limbs heavy,

but lighter,

brighter,

sharper, clearer,

seen from further up,

beyond the sky,

above the stars 

even,

so far out that

I'm nothing

but another leaf

on a tree

Everyday

Is what we do each day

any less than the moments

we remember

and create so deliberately,

to hold up to the light

like we've won?

I imagine

the laundry

first light

drive to work

walked dog

dreamless sleep

are like bowls of precious gems

to those we've lost

Birds

Sometimes I think of her hands.

She would have said they looked old,

but they were only ever beautiful

to me.

moving lightly like the birds

she so surprisingly feared.

I brought her a feather once

when I was too young to know.

What did her hands touch

from her first breath

to her last -

Hands so eerily like mine,

So strangely here with me.

Before the Rain

Before the rain,

holding my breath,

or simply not caring.

Time moves forward

anyway.

You in the corner

of my mind,

You in a hazy dream -

Focus too hard and 

it moves back.

I'd never really seen the clouds

until today.

Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Silent and whole

Though I know we will have to step out

It's enough to be here now

Small pinpoints of light

Blue sky

Far, but we know it's there

I'm not empty but

I have to stand guard

by the entrance

so the hungry don't slip through