sestina

i do not want to be left behind.
it is the one thing in life i fear.
i don’t know if there is a heaven -
i know people who say that they know
but not me - so i say we should hold
on to each other so we can stay.

and what i mean when i say “stay”
is that you should not leave me behind
or leave me without something to hold
like your hand or body because fear
makes you embrace the one that you know
can take you to the only heaven

that is now and here. without heaven
of you/me there is no reason to stay
either here or there because we know
nothing like this exists. leave behind
all “romance” all “cynic” and all “fear”
let “truth” wash over us – for we hold

time unending in mind/heart. but hold
ing on gets hard and even heaven
becomes just here – we may replace fear
of loss with self/selfish. i say “stay
and be stayed” and then we’ll leave behind
notions of needing to “know” or know

that green pasture of poison for know
ing is unneeded. if we will hold
on even when we’re sick of “behind”
or body or burdy or heaven -
because we don’t make adam/eve stay
…they choose…to be together in fear

ing and loving and - talk about fear -
raising the species and yes, we know
they’re fiction but we can do the “stay”
of till death parts us and even hold
hands until we get to some ‘heaven’
or life after life is left behind.

so, love or “love,” we won’t fear to stay
or say - i don’t know what is heaven -
just hold on till nothing’s left behind.

this is just to say

i have fallen
in love
with the man
in the mirror

which you will
probably find
ridiculously
romantic

but that's me
and you
romance
in real life

an adult

today i am twenty six
no longer a child
not an adult

twenty six is the end of many things
the early years
the excuses

twenty six marks the beginning
of the unknown
of an adult life

but twenty six will not
change my wimsy or
challenge my dreams

today i am twenty six
now ready for
next adventure

snow one

i open my eyes
to no sound
and no time
'cause the ground
is blanketed by
silent white

all roofs are peaked
in white;
branches are drooped
with white beards
and there are no roads home
no tracks

there is no horizon
simple sky
simple ground
all blurred and white
we look up to
no sun

slippery feet move us
arms cling
and the snow drifts
happily into
our laughing
mouths

begin

at the beginning
because the middle
is
in

and the end
has not happened
the
end