So, the forest fairies embraced her elbows
led her to the enchanted stream
baptized her in cool water
down
down
down
With held breath, stammering, she watched
the color of her hair flow into the river
the blush of her checks flow into the river
the ruby of her lips flow into the river
freckles, one by one by one
the glow of her skin flow into the river
Crystalline, transparent, she became
one with the river
Invisible flowing wings pushed her
flying
breaking the surface
Her body jumped back onto her
and she recovered in her nymphs’ arms
Sister
-
Initiation
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-
In my desire to embrace the world, embrace for love, for safety, no, not for love — so chilling, for safety, I conceive the world determinable, employ science and social contracts, morals and power, all for my well–intentioned designs Do not go coming around bringing up the ghost of love to haunt my bones, to turn my castles in the air to dust. I’d have to give up everything science cannot calculate, contracts cannot account for, morals cannot heed, power cannot glory in its deeds, only that I may look in your eyes and know you the factory belts overflow untended the stocks: lost opportunities my work hours fly by just to gaze at you my research and masterpieces ring hollow and it is so important to do Bah! you, tormenting me to look upon you I howl, shiver like a child in my toddler shoes With what crazy faith you do tempt me to my insanity, Oh God, oh God, boohoo
-
All is peaceful in your bed As you lay there sitting with a comforter in your lap and a bevy of pillows up your back, wreathing round your head Sweet visions you entice Wearing nothing ’cept a red handkerchief whose nettled florals shade your eyes and invite in a garden Dream of bright daylight My tender lips do gently suck, once each the gravity side of heaving breast, underneath and wander down circuitously in the lazy business of a bee frantically, humbly, bumbly, dallying Then that sweet–smelling bud is joyfully discovered Upon which our bee gingerly endeavors onto sacred ground Exploring about for what there is to take As legs press deeply into petal’s folds In response to his cantankerous march Our flower unveils herself in an expansive sigh Now the stamen is found and only nectar is wanted Oh, such a busy bee so adamant about it As flower trembles this way and that Supporting the little fellow At long last the pollen is taken up The flower is conscious of the loss In remembrance of such ruddy gifts The bee gathers every last bit And gently flies away Now the gardener saunters in For our flower must be parched well, we’ll drown her anyway It's so steamy at midday in burning summer The hose has been lying out in the sun all this time Though cold water runs from its base it will come out hot Careless lobs of water Thrash, thrash, in and out of the petals There, finally, the hose is fixed Oh, but the constant undulating pressure Has the gardener gone negligent? For a span of unendurable length, our fragile flower held down under violent, heedless protuberance shuddering in its overwhelming strength And suddenly, water gone; petals thoroughly soaked So much abuse for so innocent a flower and nowhere to go for safety For all the bittersweet torments she finds herself handled safely better off, even
-
For your constant, loving supply of kibble, I thank you I bask in your graciousness… Ignore the puffed cheeks
Paucity
–––––––
-
Such a domesticated cat I twitch my tail narrow my eyes pounce offer as tribute my prey Alas, needless folly, milk and kibbles anyway
Catankerous
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-
Those lost days I remember so well the obscene sky emblazoned on my eye driving around a courier in greater metropolitan area delivering things of importance things worth more than insignificant me worth the rapid wearing–down of my vehicle with no recompense and, I could not believe that such a bold sky ever existed how lucky must farmhands have been we were a nation of farmhands years ago and the sky so obscene and bold every god-loving day Fifteen years later, I trudge hours on my bike those precious clouds god got up early in the morning to bake startling contrasts and textures why masterpieces every day? as I scurry back and forth as mouse under hawk's eye Oh, God, I felt so privy to those secret havens in plain sight mountain majesty of wondrous delight thumb in the pie After so many unexpected enthrallments feeling so small so small
Clouds and Sky
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-
I see you beauty of my beautiful world a gentle desire to know you deeply exploring your depths. I lose my world in yours. Are you part of my world or I yours?
Deep Gaze
–––––––
-
I remember when I was a child Wading into the ocean devoured by the waves pulled under by the undertow I swam and swam for breath until the realization dawned on me I no longer knew which way was up tumbling around and around, head over heals I let go Stopped worrying entrusting fate to eventually yield back to me sunshine, dry breath A strange peace so long I find myself looming in the depths sea creature in a vast, uncharted kingdom
Sea Creature
–––––––
-
Dogs are natural scavengers
They have the stomach for it
I remember Beth swallowed some
decaying squirrel whole
Its tail hanging out of her mouth
for the longest time
Nothing ever became of it
I always wondered where the deer went
when they died
The forest was always
a pantheistic land of wonder
As the snow tickled our noses
Lexi was nowhere to be found
I laughed it off and yelled for her
Then yelled and yelled
Then ran and abruptly stopped
Lexi tenderly edging toward the deer carcass
Shy even
Then the bump on the bridge of her nose appeared
A couple months later,
in an unusual spring heat
Lexi leaves the trail
With a straightforward earnestness
We walk an unfamiliar side–path
Cross an undiscovered stream
Another carcass prone to the sun
A vulture crouched in an adjacent tree
Impatient for our departure
The bump on her head reappeared at the top
Lexi was given two months to live
And, at that other river,
Her jaw too weak to grip
the large branches so much a part of her
This third carcass
Peaceful, laying amid the thorns
One does not begrudge one condemned to death
to take their fill of death
Not one lick of impropriety
We filled our days with walks
We denied ourselves none of our walks
We partook
Peace -
In the dawn of humanity, we crowned you with stories of how meaningful you were. Grown clever and independent, we decried you with critical analysis: you are just a ball of hot gas. Now that I’ve seen your dark side, after I’ve recovered from the shock — neither I nor you, nor our galaxy are the center of the universe — Let me embrace you as in my youth. Let me swoon in your warmth. Let me re-understand the truth of your fairy tales. Let the life you created and nurtured reciprocate.