Upon My Death

 Can you not grant me just this wish?

To wring the fruit 'til no drop is left

and let us be and breathe and grieve

this heart grown weary of breath after breath--

can you not give one dream to me?

To be remembered and loved upon my death.

I am every leaf

each blade of grass

wings seeking

seed sprouting

rain tempos

birds quieting

from this stillness

arose every music.

4 Poems

"Drown"

We are taking on too much water, so
I am plunging the ore between the planks of the boat
and prying them apart.

I am sinking this ship into the sea.
I wouldn't call the choice very easy
but it is plain to me
the hull is rotting.

I was hoping to get a decade in
before the weather took her down
but then, the splitting crack of frame,
the sail lost near rocky shore--
she ran aground,

Abandon ship, abandon--
our heart, our lives, we drown.



"Untitled"

Look at this, the thread unraveling,
your prophecy, self-fulfilling.
Look at us, our rock, eroding.



"Might"

This inner violence becomes me.

Don't forget that I am ten feet tall
and forged in fire, an iron knight.

Do not forget I wield a blade half my size
and twice my might.

Do not mistake the love I gave--
It was truer than the truest soul--
Fiercer than the greatest wind--
Deeper than Poseidon's throne--

Don't mistake my need for you
as the air I need to breathe.
You've driven me away enough,
and now, I set you free.



"Ten Feet Tall"

Good. I hope you always feel ten feet tall
and never this small.

I hope you know your heart is worth a hundred hearts
and a hundred loves to be.

I've found it doesn't help to hurt in love,
it truly helps to see

when another's heart is too small to give
ten feet of love to me.