though the sun rises quickly to heat the sky
burning its way through the window shades
still the rain continues to fall
turning the walls without eaves into rivers
a swift rivulet finds a course through a crack
the condensation coating the inside panes
like tears that flow from any casual devastation
the hot humid air cannot hold this
so it lingers to seep through the open pores
and you discover yourself weeping
from every ordinary grief
they burn
so that you have to look away
close your eyes
lest your life be seared
bury the memory of the flames
deep beneath your fearful skin
and think that hidden
the fiery letters sputter out
extinguished
not even marked by a trail of smoke
in the hour of death’s arrive
when agony screams or acceptance smiles
and the bones begin their final dance
these words appear again
etched from the skeletal surface
rise with gilded wings
shining above the funeral pyre
what words are these
do not ask
each carries their own ashes
in the cinerary of their open heart
these we carry like outsize stones
our back bent beneath such burden
our steps made to falter and halt
as we seek in vain to adjust the weight
and yet we cling to these attachments
the expectations that hold us bound
our hearts confused that they represent love
mistaking leaden rocks as precious jewels
scared to drop them and let ourselves breathe
lest lighter we rise into the vast expanse
in the journey to home, what do I carry
even the lightest of memories can burden
the wrinkled hands of my grandmother preparing jam
the salty bite from a wave stinging my eyes
the throaty calls of bullfrogs sending me to sleep
the orange moon filling the night beyond my childhood window
these have filled my coat pockets
their bittersweet weight heavy as stones
if I drop them, will I walk easier on the road
or float away from any ground, dispersing all self into the sky
will you mourn if you kill a river
the murder of water is no small thing
money and war do not sustain life
when you were a child thirsty from the noon day heat
did you drink down a glass of clanking coins
when you washed your hands dirty from grime
did you run them under a show of force
when you grew your fields green with food
did you irrigate them with destructive toys
perhaps you do fill your cup with dollar bills
pile your plates with war planes and bombs
making yourself gaunt withered unaware
when you are dying and long for one last cooling sip
you’ll moisten your parched throat
with the only thing left to flow
poison that will kill us all
a shadow passing over the moon
one cast by radiance from the sun
the shining joy of constant regard
and each orb’s glow is ever seen
as night follows day and back again
what we know is not obscured
sorrow not to be eschewed
treasure it as reminder
remember always remember love
shadows stretched so far by the light
become broken into pieces
dark fragments picked up by crows
tool makers, thieves of secrets, and other corvids
stolen wisdom hidden
in the shatters and tatters of shade
these slipped between bricks in the sidewalk
stones in the walls, cracks in the street
find one and take it home to the night
who knows what reward you will find in a dream
to be here, to walk the cold streets
to enter a busy shop, to sit at the windswept market
kindness a delicate net fashioned with intent
to hold the butterfly of a smile
there it is, just now, and as you walk away
you feel the brush of wings upon your heavy heart
and let it open like a child’s outstretched hand
ready with wonder for what alights
this happens at any age
some do not live to be older
you lift a cup to your mouth
but it is now filled with these
a jagged brown capybara tooth
your grandmother’s pocket knife
an arcade token for the pinball machine
a handkerchief that still smells of pomade
you pour them out onto the table
run the memories through your fingers
then realize you’ve been lost in time
your hands are wet with tea
your face wet with tears
the sound of the falling rain
washes through the night
darkness moved upon my skin
quick as the eyes of the birds that waited
perched above me in the dripping trees
fluid as the fast moving snakes that swam
to keep me company in the estuarial brine
I left my childhood on those banks
draped careless as a wornout shirt
then walked away with this unseen coating
that called out wherever I lived
the rich soil of the Delta answered
by offering the hardworn notes of the blues
those sank into my veins along with Sh’ma Yisroel
that hung in air like candle flame in the hot humid night
the mountains also gave their response
skies so lowering and gray with rain
like night itself had come to drench me with bits of coal
grimed this textured tattoo
with the wail of a fiddle wrapped around it
barbed and rusty as old fence wire
older now I wonder what next
my adamantine sediment will attract
some silver flecks to shine like laughter
some precious gems to recall love