Pop Pin prick to cosmos Timeless to tempo Dilation to coalescence Dust to cloud to planet Crash Collisions, collapses, chaos Time Time Time

Pool Carbon to compound Chemistry to biology Bacteria to backbone to breath Bees, Crocodiles, dinosaurs Crash Time Time Time

Growth Divergence by populations Catching prey Dodging trouble Camouflage, tooth, poison, claw Tools, tribes, tech People Time Time Time

Conversion Crops to domestication Blade to bomb to bullet Cutting to burning to bombing Taking territory Grabbing, grasping, grinding Construction, cars, computers Grow, grow, grow, Cough to cancer Pestilence to death Greed to power Crash Crash Crash Time Time Time

I am an apple far from its tree Which is to say I cuss when I step on a nail But cry when I try to sing And that when you put on Your honeysuckle perfume I can feel a meadow of wildflower bruises Well up on my skin That when I hear talk of god I bow my head And leave the room That when I see something broken I try to fix it That when I see someone broken I hold them Because I am broken too Like a silence is broken By the whisper of “I thought I raised you better than this” God, how that thunders through The storm of my life, How the only hate I learned from you Was of me.

I am learning you How our hands touch, your smile Blackberries in spring

New parts of you bloom Bright through the twisting thicket Fireflies at woods edge

We touch, the comfort Of years between our edges Soft rain on the skin

Love made someone new A deep river growing wider Honeysuckle drifts

I have fallen deep Into the habit of love Cricketsong from high grass

Has any performer stood so long behind the curtain? Has anyone held onto the anticipation for years inside boxes in boxes in attic or basement? Has anyone ever been so ready for their audience? That at a glimmer of light the band starts up and her feet begin to move as if in their own? She has practiced her routine for daughters who have become grandmothers, the steps a part of her as much as her cracked hands or her paint-thin stage. She is ready to dance for anyone who finds her, all porcelain and full of butterflies.

No more hiding place No more small quiet hope Tucked away in a corner Safe, out of sight It’s done now It’s open rebellion Or silent resignation Our kids will have sunburns In winter, our neighbors Will be gone by Christmas We gave away the whole damn ballgame To a racist rapist conman When they come for you There will be no one left To speak up.

On the bedside table of the horizon What is remembered of the day Is being written on a journal of clouds. The East is dark but in the west The sky is closing its bright eye Behind a lid of twinkling night, Already dreaming in the cricketsong.

Hell is high water, dark, up to your eyes Standing on tiptoes till your feet cramp Treading water, trying not to think About what’s brushing your leg. The whole towns flooded sister And it hasn’t stopped raining. I’m not a life preserver But I stop by to drown with you from time to time, To remember the people whose legs gave out. They’re still beneath the surface Like sharks or driftwood they still wash up. Keep treading sister. Keep stretching for air. Down there’s just bad bad dreams.

Are we out yet love? You have been through hell. I know; I came after you. Please break this dreadful silence. I need to know you’re still there.

We are not out, love, But soon. Can’t you see that light? So long in silence, There is yet a song in me Of us. Please wait, wait for me.

Counting the ways I love you Is not like counting stars Or charting constellations To navigate by But like counting raindrops. They keep coming As long as the cloud is overhead. They form puddles on my sidewalks Pour through the leak in my roof Flood my basement And with great effort, if you asked, I could clear the waters With an eye dropper, scientifically, day by day, But for now I simply wade Chest deep in warmth and awe And count myself lucky That this singular love Is mine.

Not today, not ever, Soon as my feet start working I’m running away from you I can’t, I couldn’t Soon as my heart starts beating I’m walking away from you I wouldn’t, I shouldn’t Soon as my hands stop touching I’m getting away from you But maybe, just maybe I’ll lay down for a bit Get up when I’m thinking straight, When my body feels like mine Instead of yours I can quit any time I want to, I can quit any time I want to, And I’m sure I’ll want to soon.