the cup shattered on the floor
one sharp fragment in my hand
its celadon slightly tinged with red
in silence I pour tea over the scards
then kneel amongst the wet debris
and with the heavy tetsubin’s base
smash each piece into dust
no kintsugi dreams this day
pacing with quick steps
here to this task then away before it’s begun
talking in jittery sentences
about this but no this and then this instead
missed deadlines forgotten meetings
schedules entirely gone awry
this worry a constant frantic scrum
yet only a surface scribble
the skull grins fleshless in the mirror
we cannot bear to look
to take flight
enter into the soar of unknown
arms become wings
laugh as you crash exult as you fly
this yes yes
different by far than fleeing
do not run from
always run towards
a hard edge to a hard question
in a hard voice with a hard look
best reply is a laugh and a smile
same place as you
dirt water air mud rain rock snow
all any of us have
just in different configurations
if you think your breath better
who’s the alien here
to mourn for a land not mine
a place I’ve never called home
with ways and customs strange
words that never fit my mouth
and not this place alone
but every place I’ve been
not ever mine but a stranger there
and somehow invited in
I grieve for the loss of welcome
the hearth’s warmth once freely shared
none of us are from here
yet we breathe common air
if we hold too fast to fences
turn all to enemies on the other side
we’ll die alone and friendless
with no one even to close our eyes
if I wait, then I do not live
I breathe each breath as if it is my last
because it is and my first but most of all
my only breath
I live like this
each moment completely enough
whatever it brings my resting place
and sometimes if I find the need
I’ll offer carefully in an outstretched hand
spaciousness balanced just so
a frozen luster covers the trees
a glacial gloss tinged with blue
her gaze icier than this landscape
darker than the midnight sky
the wind chills with killing sharpness
linger too long, and you will die
so too said her expression
I left a trail of glittering tears
for no one as I walked away
blue petals the color of loving eyes
holes half-full of red gumbo clay
scattered notes from a cello sonata
throaty croaks from long-vanished bull frogs
muddy drops from the mountain creek
cracked remnants of forgotten dreams
hollow vase for hollow wishes
a clock that noisily warns of the end
one plank only and it’s getting full
tip all to the bin and walk away
room for someone else now
wind with hint of tears
cutting through the alleyway
your smile near my heart
there among the stinking ruins
in fallen ash and drifting flame
you search for something lost
around you the Erinyes flicker in the air
hair like tangled wisps of smoke
their snakes’ hiss joining that of the fire
each grim visage darker than char
look up look up before too late
but it is too late, your thread already cut
not just cut, it burns it burns
you failed to pay attention
