I would find xenon

You asked me once, what if we'd never met?

I would've felt nothing differently at first.

I was already hollow and tired

compressed into a little square,

the sad frosty breath of an elk

on an empty frozen lake

After a time, without even an idea of you

I would miss you. . . with no knowing

I would only long for something

Life should be funnier and warmer

and more adventurous

Kisses should have fire

and passion. . .

Adventure. . .

I would find xenon

and with it, I'd look. . . 

within the depths of my hollow days

I would look for signs of you

between the formulaic songs

among the endless noise

I pine for the slightest hint of you

in the darkness

of all that does not matter

It Burns

(written in light of the Ferguson riots)

It is 2am, and the world is on fire

The heart takes a breath

as the mind can only hold it

I lay exhausted, saying nothing

what is there for these

but their anger, their hunger

a season of burning colors

smoldering over a dead child

I miss you my darling

my heart yearns to breathe

and my mind is exhausted

i want to hold you and say nothing

Wolves Going to Picnic

I woke, and resisted the urge 

to really turn over to face the empty plains of our bed. 

Instead I imagined turning over. . 

to see the edges of your lashes, 

sweeping down towards your cheek, 

like foothills to a snowy plain.

A pack of silver wolves racing by,

padding softly through the snow.

They are wearing pointed hats,

and silk grey jackets:

they are going to picnic,

they are going to tea.

It is then, that my fingers brush your cheek,

sending the little wolves tumbling

with the soft clatter of tea cups

little white saucers, spinning.

A bit of spilt oolong 

(for that is what wolves drink)

soft and warm as my whispered

"good morning my love"

Hilarity Followed

I think perhaps it was the brisk weather last night. 

I dreamt of standing in front of Bronwyn, 

nervously waiting to meet the beautiful woman 

who also wanted to meet me!

Your playful eyes were sunlight and blue sky

draped with lamplight bangs

wrapped in the cool autumn air

I remember finally getting to kiss you

tenderly at first,

then quickly with wild wanting

We were famine and our lips the feast

The sweet devouring of our tongues

All the world fell away

as I got to kiss you the way I always meant to

and the hilarity that followed

One afternoon

One afternoon, we ran away from it all. . .

Projects spinning on their rims

Deadlines, cooling like crusty magma

We let it all go to voice mail.

Hand in hand, we ran, drove, flew

to where valleys envelope us,

like apple rinds coiled around the foothills

sweetly fragrant flames, rusting in the wind

The sunlight is our trumpet, bright as brass

big as the smiles we use to fill each other

great sails of light. . . our sun on a string

we face each other, and let all shadows

fall behind.

Something Absolution

The warm glow of the world 

spun around us like a scarf,

our toes jumping lively,

our noses touching, touch

I am flying in the blue openness of your eyes

and though we may spin faster, ever faster

we are pulled ever closer

by something's absolution. . .

The rising ocean, 

will catch the falling rain

inevitable. . .

Folding

It was so strange walking up to your door last night. . . 

it is as if the pavement is peeling away as you prepare to leave.

Carpeting retracts from the stairs
like a cat's tongue curling back
after a yawn.

The lights flicker,
every bulb is a little candle's flame
walls thin, like old playing cards
quivering in the wind.

Window blinds waver like watery eyes
for they recognize what comes.
The trees outside shed their clothes. . .
The feathers to your wings.

Take my hands my love
Let us race like our heart beats
to our next adventure
As the street folds closed,
like a wet, black fan.

Canopy of Golden Plans

Love is funny. . . 

It is patience,

Sitting by a field

tending the sprouting green

as it layers over the remains 

of every prior season

to see what colors arise

to paint name

a pink tremor on your lips

the cloudy blue cocktail,

stirring in you eyes

or a canopy of golden plans

in dreaming the next adventure

But we are also delving

changing and shifting

picking through earth's pockets

for the unexpected

a timeless day

when we lighten our burdens

or the perfect corner

of my arm for you to rest

Dandelion

Every word I write, is a love letter

to things I can never touch again

Every idea is a ship launched

from the sandy shore of the now

We kiss with forgetful tongues,

As hands renew an embrace

Friends recalled in warmth

Lovers rejoined in darkness

For though the present prints memories

as sheet music for waterfalls

When we meet. . . deseo mía

steam churns, from our presses

white sheets, smoke, crisp and burn

intricately inked, endlessly possible

I am a dandelion in the cold desert

before our rolling, nuclear tidal wave

A map

If i could 

number the stars

in your eyes

they would be

raindrops and paint

spun off a wheel

to count them

follow butterflies

trace a map

etched deep

in grey-blue lines

on my scalp

and then wait

let the hair grow

playful waves

hiding. . .  only just. . . 

beneath 

playful 

fingers

scruffling me

Root

I want to hold your brittle hand...
to feel your jagged pulse in mine
Let it take ensiform root in me 
A redwood destiny, in seed
Threading full my every vein
Leaf and branch, burst up and back 
Unfurling sail and hollow wing
for our journey from this elder world,
To home. . . back to our home. . . 
White roof above, our roots below
As you water me with kiss sweet 
My toes drink greenery, damp and deep
As I am your old silver skinned tree
I hold earth beneath, as solid vow
And storm above, will breach no bough
I give you my shade, my sweet green sea
For you, I whisper, as I sing
I sing you song of leaf and branch
as I stand, 
I stand for you.

The color of wildflowers

Did you sleep well?

Did your body bloom with relief. . .

wild flowers in the moonlight

My fingertips sowed then into your beauty last night

Tilled muscle and skin until they sighed in relief

And then in the dark of your room. . . 

stretching toward the unseen moon

little buds peeked out, 

yawned with a tender uncurling of leaves,

and the colors came. . .

the little white blooms, like snow blossoms

shy blue droplets of sky and sea

bright yellow joy, shaped as tiny lions calling to the moon

the valleys of your back held tense a moment, 

a sigh of relief at the end of a torrent of rain.

and then the million unnamed colors of love

the kind you saw when you realize in a daze

that our love had thwomped you on the head

and you briefly feared that you might never, ever

see straight. . . 

ever again. . .

Yellow Petals

We learn each other with time and laughter

We hold one another in mind and breath

Our joys more numerous than lights

in the river of stars above

our city of night

pushing blossoms to the dock

pushing gulls on a salted wind

When you hold me, I want

nothing more than to be wood

smooth and cool to the touch

like the green forest air

When I close my eyes, I know you

on the tips of my fingers,

like soft yellow petals

growing through the concrete

Together

My beautiful darling, my perfect lover, my dearest. . .

As we get closer,

I might laugh a little too loud,

You might eat a little too much,

My joke would fall flat

Roses! Wine! Sweep you off your feet!

As our lips embrace,

Perhaps I kiss a little too hard

You might poke me a in the eye

I might snore that night (it was wine after all)

Ah, but the moonlight inspires romance! and love!

I forget to hold a door for you

You might pick your nose more freely

I kiss you with my morning breath

I will not always be handsome

and you will not always be beautiful

and love is mortal, as are we

But I give you my awkwardness, 

 my romantic heart,

  my forgetfulness,

   my poetry,

    my strange body,

     my devotion,

      my neuroses,

I give it all to you. . .

I'll will always make you smile,

and when I am in your arms, 

I will always feel warm

for what is love, if not an agreement to see each other

to really, really see each other, 

and still our eye shine,

our lips curl like clouds in the wind, 

and we sigh, together.

Haikus Dreaming

Dream of you last night

Walking along the water

I am your warm scarf

When you are in need, 

I am your man. I am oak 

place your back to me

From you, I only

steal glances by the millions

return them often

Dream my hand in yours

warm, firm, and we are ready

the whole world is ours

Place your hand on me

Feel my solid heart, beating

Leaping to meet you

I hold you close, with

my whole heart, both hands, fingers

crossed, and arms open

Kiss me like a kite

caught on a tree in a storm

free me, welcome me.

For you are my moon

the moon that makes the sun shine 

and the oceans burn

Let our branches grow,

and brush, and touch, and tangle,

until our storm. . . comes

Night slips by our bed,

tangled, we blissfully dream. . .

magic, in our skin.

Sunlight on Water

Look at me, my love

I am sunlight on water,

because I have you :)

Look at me as I look at you

You are moonlight

cooling my hot skin

We are two hands, clasped together

Fingers mixing in warmth

as sand dancing beneath the waves

fish, flick their silvery tails

donating scales to star our endless blue

And when we part, as at times we must

I'll reach you with a loving pen

until nightly, we find 

our way together again

Miss You

I miss the giddy music in my nerves, 

when you run your fingers through my hair. 

I miss the playful light in your eyes 

when are about to pounce on me. 

You lean toward me like a tyrannosaurus 

about to ruffle my hair 

(but who is also ticklish!), 

giggling all along

I miss the way you purse your lips,

like you're about to whistle. . . 

when you try on earrings in a mirror, 

or when you're upset with me.

I think you'd put me in your purse

Only to look for me a little later

with the tips of your little claws, 

because sometimes 

you missed me too

butterflies tango

The butterflies in my tummy have flourished. 

They are in my heart,

dancing a fine twirling argentine tango 

(complicated with extra pairs of legs). 

They are sliding about my veins,

like over-joyed kids 

in a waterpark 

drunk on the hot pulse 

of a summer day. 

They are in my mind. . . 

I am a butterfly, 

affectionately brushing your petals 

with my fine wiry antennae, 

clinging to your silken petals. 

In the leisurely sun 

of a perfect day, 

or in the slick rain of life's obstacles, 

I shield you with my little wings, 

and drink in your fragrance 

with great pleasure. . . 

always.

A Kiwi in a Forest of Legs

What does our world looks like from the outside? 

Is it a tiny drop of rain, 

shining bright as a gem, 

sitting atop a fresh blade of grass? I

s it a vibrant, dancing star, 

guiding any others 

who should peek its distant light? 

Perhaps it is an elusive, 

puffball of a kiwi bird, 

darting between the forests of legs 

on a busy New York sidewalk. 

A passing stranger might wonder 

at something so curious 

and out of place. 

However, 

before they can fumble for their phones 

and capture it for karma, 

before they can google 

whether the kiwi bird 

is known to live in major north american cities, 

before they check their newspapers 

for reports of escaped kiwi's, 

we'll have drifted out of sight, 

leaving them wondering, 

and perhaps 

with a little smile on their face.

Stars, Whales and Goldfish

Waking up together, 

bright as red goldfish 

swimming through the air 

above your bed. 

Perhaps they'd gather 

to gawk 

and make their fishy faces 

at the green tara.

I want to climb old lighthouses with you. 

We could reignite the flame with a kiss. 

The ponderously spinning light 

serves to guide a great whale, 

safely into harbor. 

The whale would open its massive maw, 

and a circus would roll 

safely, off his tongue.

I want to kiss every mole on your body,

in the gently waving tall grass. 

I will make love to you 

beneath a blanket of falling stars. 

They would slow to land all around us, 

to make our own Austin-night 

strings of christmas lights,

 as we giggle 

giddily, into each other's smiles

Architectural Satisfaction

my affection . . . 

It is like a leafy vine on a building wall. 

Growing up thick and lush about her foundations, 

climbing persistently up her bare 

expanses of smooth walls, 

beautifully framing windows 

in leaf and tendril and wrapping 

snuggling around her perfect balconies 

(lest they should run away). 

She glows with architectural satisfaction, 

stands obviously apart from the rows 

of plain faced buildings that surround.

Simply enraptured in the attentions of nature. 

As the warm days of spring stretch before us, 

they bloom. . .

Each little blossom a word of love. 

Every breeze looses a teasing, fragrant melody. 

And soon, wood and stone, vine and structure are one; 

neither the same, without the other.

Awkward

I am awkward, 

but you love me any way

I let a sound escape my lips

and you laugh it off as a joke

absently give my hair another stroke

I picked you flowers from the roadside

and tossed the ones that wouldn't last

you'd always have too much room,

for the bouquet of two that bloom

I rush for every bag and door

like I'm chasing tossed grenades

I'll make all your coffee and tea

You remind me, you only need me

I stare at the stars every night

to fit them into my eyes

I try to show them to you all day

I can't take my eyes off you anyway

Darling I smile when I feel lost

only to find your hand within mine

Inside my heart I am yours

In every way, I am yours

The Loom of Days

Collect all the shells 

strewn about the beach,

the presents of my ocean 

sparkling under a blanket of stars

these are the skipped beats of my heart

each time I place my eyes upon you, 

they shine bright as falling stars 

string them finely upon oue loom of days,

and weave these beats into your song,

birds would quiet to listen, 

and tap their little toes

there would be tiny happy tears 

for they know it

they have tried to sing it 

all their lives.

Sky Above Sky

It is only right that you teach me to swim, 

and inspire me to travel in the world and in words, 

Like the floating call of morning bells, 

(as sunset will call moonrise)

mushroomed blue skies lit with clouds, 

like weeds encircling a desert town

i have realized the deepest secret,

the cave in the mine,

the sky above sky

the fate of the cards

covered in cups and symbols

and eyes

that i carry your heart with me

for it is the ocean within my heart

the wonder that made stars gasp

so sharp they could only fly apart

A Tide of Wood and Leaf

When you feel down,
You, who swallowed a falling star. . . 

that was my star, 

and a wish was upon that light. 

You are all that I wished for. . . 

this endless wilderness of inspiration and laughter. 

Life with you is surprising and amazing!

When the rest of life that is so thin, 

and shallow falls over like the false 

building fronts of an old hollywood set, 

ours will grow over it all 

a tide of wood and leaf, 

swallowing the world.

The Light Switch

Humor me. 

Grab the light switch, and flick it up. . .

and down. . . 

up and down. . .

and again. 

Those were the days and nights pushing past our eyes. . . 

before we met. 

That was the lifetime which shaped us,

the life of time, before we met. . . 

before the world learned to stand still 

as a hummingbird's last wingbeat. . . 

a bubbling brook's meditation on joy, 

that flowed up the gates within us, 

past the watchful third eye, 

on to the white crown. . . 

the ecstasy of that buzzing moment 

before the first morning kiss. . . 

the sensation 

of both our lips 

reaching like a dawn. . .

hungry for the stars

and the rose hued bliss

that follows

when we feast