it is the moment you realize everyone and
everything around you
is too loud.
and when you get home
you’ll find your lover has been
cutting animal shapes
out of recycled cardboard again and
the notes on some of them contain
unfinished sentences and
you will not be
surprised
by this.
I could eat you.
but then
I’d have empty
wrappers. to
look at.
and crumple.
and I’d still be
so hungry
for you.
what I like about you is
your not-a-chance
laugh. and the way
you say ten more
minutes.
you asked me once, to look
inside a poem.
and here we are
beside an echo, blue blanket and
bucket of tears.
it goes without saying, whether
you drink
or never drink, the bucket
stays full.
and there–
a hummingbird, not humming.
curious, though. as to why
it’s taken you so long
to appear.
¨(7) 40 makes itself hard to write about.
(14) When you ask where it came from,
(22) it answers: Why did it take this long
(24) to care?
(30) Suddenly you can see 50. Resist
(33) if you wish–
(38) 40 grins. Has already started
(40) walking there.
Scraps of paper
slipped inside a locker
crossed-out, folded, folded, passed
to back of bus, stamped–
mailed across the miles
scribbled on bar napkins …
Secrets?
No.
The
sum of friendship
forged a lifetime.
You cast
the key
to me.
there is no return
said the wind
without leaving
you are
a keeper
said the moon
search me
follow chart and read me
kiss me listen linger fly
pour up drink me
with your eyes
said the sky
we cannot unknow
what we know
said the wind
between the not quite spring and
not yet dead of winter is
a line
said the moon I set
the hook you will
be mine
I watch for cowgirls
said the sky
I kiss them all
before they ride
I travel mills and tunnels
said the wind
chime turbines heat and
chill
shear power whittle rock
at every stop
my currency
is caution
I am full
said the moon
I welcome sunshine
said the sky and kiss
and kiss and kiss
the clouds goodbye
duck into a corner
catch your breath adjust
a hat chance find
a lost love’s hand
said the wind
step into me
again
planets turn in time
said the moon I wax
and wane and wait
and wait and
wait until
you bite
I kiss the frozen prairie
said the sky
I am here
when you are gone
said the wind
I cast and pull
said the moon
I kiss dawn long
before blushing
said the sky
what they say.
when we don’t.
words.
Daily I fall in love with words
with their heteronyms, antonyms, silent letters
WIND BOW STAND KNOW
and sources of origin.
I love how they fill up my ears
and slide into my eyes
jumping at me from pages
and street signs.
I feel their meaning
roughened by accents softened with whispers
slide over me.
Their double entendres
suggesting so…
fumbling and stuttering so sweetly
that I am left speechless, waiting.
Daily I fall in love with words
with their native languages.
They tell secrets in the paper
and I want them.
I know them.
They slip into history menus sermons songs–
their length long and short.
They have students or lovers or tweeters
or all.
They are anciently worldly–
they know how civilizations speak.
Their careful arrangements form paragraphs
and clauses.
Daily I fall in love with words.
They are conveyors of dreams.
But they never remain in vacuum
as they sustain explain rearrange.
listening to
the full, full, full, so full of you, the
drowning out of words of you, the
heavy-to-the-top of you, the steel-on-
steel-on-wheels of you, the
rusty clang, clang,
clank of you, the shaking air and
ground of you, the heat-till-red-hot
sound of you, the cars and crates and
squeaks and weight and chains and pops
and bangs and bright white
end-of-movie space
that follows
in your place.
mince meaning.
dilute truth.
mix metaphor.
crystallize opinion.
dice situation.
dissolve resolution.
whisk contention.
seal history.
infuse hearsay.
drizzle dread.
blacken reputation.
extract tact.
spread rumor.
chill passion.
blend reality.
coddle apathy.
whip submission.
combine contempt.
beat opposition.
rinse wisdom.
roast adversity.
blend hypocrisy.
strain conversation.
crush choice.
squeeze voices.
toast gossip.
peel layers.
dredge past.
glaze facts.
reduce tolerance.
skim tears.
garnish taste.
bake.
eat the words
you serve.
hidden.
between the lines.
no words.
When the weekend’s here
we party.
because the knot is not
the sailor,
because the nose
is not the clown.
because belief
may not believe
the author is
unknown.
because love is not
the lover,
because the gift
may not receive.
because presence is
a passing glance
between a wish
and thieves.
because being there
is far from here,
and going isn’t
gone.
because further from
truth seems closer
to true
when all is said
and done.
when dreams twist
when eyes miss
when hearts bend
when starts end
when words slip
when thoughts spin
when life takes
when day breaks
when earth moves
when hands soothe
when loss finds
when dark shines
when friends give
when hope lives
when love sparks
when time tells…
listen.
put on your best dress.
walk into the woods.
sit.
until the sun sets.
until the color fades.
until the moon wanes.
until the night passes.
until the wind scatters.
until the dawn breaks.
until the snow melts.
until the river washes.
until the tide turns.
until the lines blur.
until the spring blooms.
ask:
when
will there be
no spaces?
Red River Girl 