We Once Imagined Life

We once imagined life
was paper bags with oil spots,
or downy nests, or the splicing
of hands.

In the space between
two pines,
under breath,
we whispered, "yours" and
"mine." The dove's breastbone,
cloven.

A clot of sap is sticking to us both,
our torn coats dusted,
nothing new under the sun,
or dewy eyed, after another
skin graft,

does it last?

Is there virtue in this cold salt
clinging to the center?

Autumn

Autumn is your best friend's wedding
           
         It is quicksand in dreams

It is the last bleeding passion
                                       
                                         until Spring.

Before I Die

Last night I asked myself what things
I'd like to do before I die.

I'd like to be bolder. Speak out to people,
encourage them. Put words to things, put pen to paper,
name what each friend means.
Name strangers. Smile on the street.
Pick up trash, be ridiculously forgiving, pray for babies
unborn. Bless my parents, be attentive
to my brothers, be consciously quiet
more often.

Sing. Only songs I believe in. Leave recordings
of my voice for someday nieces, nephews. Keep a few
things, give the rest
away.
Dress away from windows.
Dress pretty every day. Make clothes happy
to be worn, put them on like prayers,
ceremoniously.

Sacrifice my pride and laugh a little at myself,
more often. Be a klutz,
clean up after myself,
and after others.
Take showers, finally take care of my toenails. Wear no makeup,

but smell like herbs and spices. Bake 

double batches to give away, 

make extras for the freezer.

Read poems every day. Note the headlines, cut the fluff, only watch youtube 

for double-rainbow moments.

Own my issues. Tell it straight. Say the things (I think) maybe only I

struggle with. Ask questions. Be that nerd.

Write friends' names 

in my favorite books. 

Look for lonely people. Leave anonymous bouquets.

Trace my family's faces. Make smaller 

paintings. Print the photos, finally.

Listen to advice. Embrace silence. Sweat hard,

sleep early. Sleep out under the sky. Look into eyes.

Go barefoot.

We Knew You Meant It

We knew you meant it when you met us,
smiling, eyes the kind of calm
of pioneers
used to scanning
long horizons, crops still sprouting, expectant.

We are here because it was no mistake,
that interchange of yeses, rosary chain of
long-touching, uncertain and unforeseen
answers,
pricks of conscious choice, and still more conscious
folding into small-enough-to-fit
in any suitcase,
catacomb.

Traveling here, spreading out to view
hay bales, fields,
the irrepressible clouds,
we feel we are seeing in your eyes, again,
that quiet question,
will you live?

This Is the Great Migration

This the great
migration.

From place
to place we feel
ourselves,
changing.

Not long ago,
a green anole
browning on the bush's top -

even at home
we shift, we grow,
we reared two clutches
in one nest
this season.

"What Arms You Have Afterward"

"what arms you have afterward."
prodigy. progeny. protégée. 
when i am alone i eat a lot of
salad, pancakes and cheese sandwiches.
what i want now are clear directions - (i'd like to be
as reliable as the dishwasher)
what to say to him,
how to use my afternoon
                        when time is nothing like money
                        and learning matters as much as ever (but is
                        no longer a number on a page)
how count the inches the morning glory vine
climbed, curling around the rail?
how bless the basil     large enough i finally snipped three leaves
today, careful as a baby's first haircut?
what to make
of all the bugs i save and bring outside, tilting my hand
against a leaf until they crawl off?
too much in the closet, too much in the mind. and where to find
a nesting place.



Quote: Carl Nellis, "Feathered"

Undulating

It terrifies me, how beautiful you are becoming.
The forming of your face, turning into itself,
you more and more,
and your eyes knowing things
I don't know yet.
It frightens me.

Like I am losing you already. You should wear ash everyday,
to remind me. To say, "I was never yours to start with,
we keep each other company on the way,
and that is all."