String Around Your Finger
“got a thought for those who start to think of love
as the pursuit of a fool: It’s a palace from ruin.”
“Gather courage, if you’re doing something
do it, cause she’s got to go soon.”
— Dermot Kennedy, “A Closeness”
Consider the coastline—
how it waxes & swoons
on the whims of the moon—
our light
within
our darkness…
how it turns itself over in the night—
how the waves like watery sheets slide away
from sands wet with once,
leaving them
cold—naked—but how
they are reunited,
tucked in, ever righted,
at dawn…
how spectral ships like listing slips
of something that were tangible
yet carry memory like bless’ed baggage,
no less real for their passage
from sight…
how an island can lay hidden
over distant horizons,
no less present, no less sealed
while shore & glassy shore
though whole, yet feel
the ache–
the loss–
of Pangaea…
Yes, consider the coastline,
when you doubt
what you’ve seen,
when you forget
what you’ve felt…
when the fall comes & passes,
when temperatures drop
in the hollow spaces of your stomach
& winter’s teeth gnaw at your bones…
through the rebirth of Spring,
when all things are searching
for a mate, & flowers burst
from hiding places
to remind you
beauty
never
left…
& most of all, should the coming year bring you
back to this time—or the next one—or the one
after that…
…
should clocks slow to crawl—
should storms stop or stall—
should the dreams, again,
cause you to
fall…
remember this.
Remember me.
Remember the You
& babe,
please…
remember
you flew.
