I love
your tranquility,
your clarity,
your smoothness,
your purity,
your brightness,
your changing moods
like shifting currents,
the sparkle of your eyes like
sun diamonds on peaceful water.
I love the dark somber mantle
of a reflected moon in your dark hair,
a midnight lake of cascading curls
that eddy about my ears when you
look down at me,
and the loam smell of your bare skin
against me.
I am
an autumn leaf
in love
with a spring,
drifting away on your
beauty like rivers.
I remember the
white snow
swirling in the wind
to the bass drum of
thunder far above,
striking the dark slate clouds
that sparked with silver blue
lightning.
I remember the regal green pines
staunch and statuesque against
the crepuscular gloom.
I remember the firelight
just so,
making a nimbus of
your hair.
I remember thinking: This holy being holds my heart.
And my love leaped into
the fire,
and grew warm as
the blush of your cheeks
when I kissed you,
and you took my face
in your hands to
kiss me back,
igniting torrid feelings
that shamed the
winter storm,
and made the fire a
pale and sickly
imitation
of what we share.
You are
my winter fire,
and we will never be
extinguished.
All my duties come to naught,
and as for all the things I bought,
I place the high-def screens in
front of things that really matter,
And put the things that really matter
inside the screen.
Pictures of family
Pictures of memories
Pictures of successes
Pictures of loss and regret
Pictures of friends who lost
the battle to live forever…
And today,
here I stand
utterly alone,
wrapped in sullen silence,
chilled by cold thoughts and
ironic imaginings
of what might have been
after all this time.
Sifting shifting sand,
unable to find what I deemed insignificant
and buried,
only to realize all that
ever matters
is the life you’re living
Now.
I would say that
Yes,
You complete me,
but not in the way
of our partial, imperfect hearts
joining
to make the
whole
I mean that
your love
makes me
who I am,
inspires me
to become all
that I can
to mean something
in this world, by
meaning something
to it,
to impact someone
who impacts more than one,
to make a difference,
so that nothing is ever
the same
again,
to understand
on a deeper level,
to love on a higher ground,
and achieve on a different plane,
to stand for something
uniquely universal,
and to
love you
for the rest of
this life.
And so,
Dear Sculptress,
Take me in your hands
and
make me
with you.
The struggle to breathe
grows harder and laborious,
and soon, not worth the effort.
The heartbeat softens to a
padded thudding
of arrhythmic improvisation
The light, both sun and lamp alike,
grows dim
And the features
of your faces
so familiar
are now only
sketches in sepia
drawn by rheum,
inked in cataract,
and blindness creeps with
a serpent’s crafty slowness
to seize small sight
in its unrelenting
coils of darkness
But the memories
of grand carnivals,
of dire hurricanes,
laughter, tears
prizes, penalties
trials, victories
unity, dysfunction
safety , strife
holiday dinners
and birthday songs
pride and humility
for good or ill
all said and done
except the last
goodbye
and giving the last remnants
of my love
The days were few and happy,
and the honor of growing
beside you
made it all
worthwhile.
I dream a
Summer love
of passion,
heat and light.
I dream a
Summer love
of rain-kissed kisses,
your lips
unfolding like
flower petals,
yielding,
fragrant,
and soft.
I dream a
Summer love
of water and sand,
of ebb and flow,
and give and take,
and swollen tsunamis
of helpless,
trembling release
I dream a
Summer love
of consuming sun
and comforting moon.
I dream a
Summer love
of gentle breezes,
caressing
gentle, caressing
hands
I dream a
Summer love
as loud as the
call and response
of thunder and lightning
I dream a
Summer love
as whirling
as the undulating dance
of sea and sky
I dream a
Summer love
of starry eyes
that look into
the confines
of
my soul
and see the
infinite.
As I sat looking at the sea,
The sea was looking back at me.
“Tell me, O man,” it seemed to say,
“Where would you like to go today?”
“I’d like to be inside a shell,
a full sail rising in a swell,
a shark fin slicing through a wave,
a sea-snake lurking in a cave!”
The sea then laughed
“That’s quite a list!”
and clothed me
with a kissing mist,
And plucked me from
the sitting rock,
and took me
from the safety dock,
And gave me
all I did desire
of fish, and fowl
and ocean fire
And showed me wonders
floating by
not seen before with
Human eye.
“Reach out,” it said,
“and touch and feel
the shimmering coral,
the shocking eel,
the slick grey dolphin
playing there,
the breaching whale
that tastes the air,
“And in the darkness
of my floor
are creatures
best not counted for…”
And as the sun set,
then the sea
released its hold,
and set me free.
And sprayed my cheek,
and went its way.
So I remember
to this day
When I sat looking
at the Sea,
and in its depths,
discovered
Me.
We sailed
on a serene
silver river
to a
place
unknown,
unnamed,
unpopulated
uncharted
To discover
what we would
about the new world
we would claim
our own
and when
we skimmed
through the
billowing cloudbank
we were
suddenly
drifting apart
in
separate vessels
going
opposite ways
unmindful
unhappy
unneeded
unloved.
I see you
Black Woman
in the armor
we forced you
to wear,
so you could
fight
when you would
Love
I see you
Black Woman
a sad and weary
patience
in your eyes
waiting for
the next
bone-wearying
Battle,
challengers
coming from
everywhere at once
I see you
Black Woman
your smile and laughter
as distant a memory
as the hills
that
surround you.
I see you
Black Woman
the song
in your heart
now the moans
of winds across
a desolate, bleak,
and wretched
landscape
I see you
Black Woman
looking across
the widening chasm
as your champion
turns to become
your opponent
I see you
Black Woman
wiping
the tears
from your armor
lest the salt
dull its shine
as it rusts
your soul
I see you
Black Woman
standing alone
in your own
cold shadow
dreading
but
living
to fight
another day.
I see you
Black Woman
Beautiful
Always
at the heart of it
is a weapon
A kingdom’s fate
A love’s revival
A warrior’s life
A prophecy fulfilled
Always
at the heart of it
is a weapon
Discarded
Forgotten
Dulled
Unblooded
Uncared for
But a weapon
all the same
Waiting patiently
for a hand
to lift it
up into the light
to transfer its
Power
anew
Go on…
pick it up
and
feel its
heartbeat
pulse
in harmony
with
your own
Beyond Panic 