There’s a ghost in this house
banging on the brain
asking for attention
but it’s time to walk the dog
feed the cats
go to work
shop the stores
pick up kids
tend to parents
make this dinner
do the laundry
etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
That spirit spooks up
an apparition of time
when she was alive
making art
drawing the dolls
painting pictures
chains off
feeling free.
I miss the myself who chose to love / fully, who knew how to reach / out, and when somebody called, knew / to be present, to respond honest, fully. Time / is like a knife. Just see how it cuts, / how much has whittled and winnowed / my big body. Once I believed I’d become / someone. I have reasons. I have become / a guarded person, comfortable as a box turtle.
My unmanifested lover,
I think about you all the time.
You choose the radio station
in the car,
always finding me love songs.
You are always with me
at the movies,
holding my hand.
I try to make the wait seem shorter
by enjoying you before you get here.
I try to hasten you
by pretending you are
here already.
I taste your kisses
every time I put on lip gloss.
I hear your voice sometimes
reassuring me
when I am nervous.
I am having a wonderful relationship.
All that’s missing is you.
Lover, come to me soon.
I long to be held in real arms.
I long to be kissed by real lips.
The Genius of Meaning
Legacy of words
Sit in seeds of gritty pears
fresh flesh burns tongue’s fringe
Translations are lost–
Scattering violet’s velvet
anthem between toes
came again. there is still something missing
we are but millimeters apart
Lawn clippings
stick between
my toes as I walk
barefoot across
dew-soaked grass.
I gaze up through
the hazy air at the
moon, a waning
crescent sliver
circled by stars,
letting crickets
and frog calls
occupy my mind.
I watch fireflies
string long displays
of lights across the
dark outline of hills
all around me, and
I stand there in my
yard absorbed by
nothing and
everything and
in one moment
I have it all.
