POETRY
Maple & Pine
you taste like a campfire
you fill up my sky
with the smoke on your breath
take me in, keep me
the stars are your breadth
your warmth, your glow
your embers, they float
like whispers and whiskers
of snow on the slope
Emma, come with me
we’ll waste our whole lives
building stables for horses
with maple and pine
Still Dark
honey, i see stars
let’s leave while it’s still dark
i’ll make the coffee now
half an hour and out of town
last night, we forgot about tomorrow
stayed up real late and drank our sorrow
now your throat, it burns, your eyes, they sting
but darlin don’t go back to sleep
last night you were mumblin but i think you said
a star can shine light even after it’s dead
but it can’t shine quite as bright in the city
the way you phrased it just sounded pretty
we’re driving north, that sky’s blue hue
and Georgia’s comin up real soon
last night was our last hurrah
how i wish that it was still dark
Five or So
remember what life was like
when we were young?
we saw our fathers
stand tall with the gods
they’d kiss all our scrapes
so our scrapes wouldn’t scar
then we’d keep on playing
out there in the park
and life, it was more than just laundry
it was promising mothers we’d stay in the yard
to catch some blue butterflies—
we’d reach so far
i look back on these days
like a pillar of salt
life was so easy
and that’s what’s so hard
A Summons
i shade my eyes at the horizon
towards all my hopes and fears
the darkness comes too early
in the winter of my years
i’m yearning for the warmth and stillness
of my Master’s loft
a belly full, a peaceful passing
wrapped in hay and cloth
i sigh upon a dying sun
my cracked lips mouth a prayer:
let tomorrow bring, perhaps
a touch of autumn air
Epitaph
where cardinals play
o’er weeping willows
and cardinals pray
o’er weeping widows
that’s where i find you