seeing you again

I put a needle to my skin

But I’m not breaking in

My drink of choice just walked in

But I’m not buying it

Remember that high speed chase 

Driving so free and so fast

Remember that adrenaline rush 

Don’t forget the crash 

Black Bear in a Paw Trap

rabbit skull with a broken jaw

did you run to the wolves or did they

smell you out

can i wrap you in cloth

can i bury you inside my box spring 

can i ask you a question

about where your soul went

buried bull with bruised knee

did you love where you landed or

decide fate with your fall

can i stitch you a new sinew

can i massage your muscle memory

can we walk backwords

with broken feet

black bear in a paw trap

did you catch your own leg or 

let your guard down as i ran

can i answer that

can i come back
come back to where my soul has been

Boy

boy

i learned the hard way
watched a mouse burn from the inside out
gave handjobs in the Second Hand Rose parking lot

boy

i just wanted to be
one of the boys
i went along with anything

boy

i didn't leave with many scraped knees
didn't dig for worms
but they dug inside me

boy

i got dirty
between basements and back seats
learned not to speak

boy

the fear of God
couldn't stop
boys from being boys

Annuals

the night before we threw
the dying lilies into the pasture
we stood together under a nearly full moon
and cried over our unkept garden bed

if they must die
what shall we do?
our dirty palms
open-faced and empty

we watched the pinks turn to cream brown
and with no regard for perennials
you said you rarely feel good
so we tugged at the stems

gleaming with pride
i whispered and you watered
the weeds on display
in vases around the apartment

our pruning careless and promises fleeting
we took off our gloves
all well-knowing
the overgrowth out of hand

tending the earth of our bodies
became a chore
we could not love each other
anymore

You Do Not Need To Be

you do not need to be
anything else
but your sad self

you are a soft and beautiful creature
a pup among the wolves
i know you don't need me to tell you so

but Wednesday night
when the thunder came
i stepped into the storm

i know you've stayed there
for a long time
visiting homes you've built and abandoned

wading through flooded floors
to feel underwater
for a little while

i won't touch you there
i know you don't need me to
wait for you to surface

you do not need to go
anywhere else
but inward when the lightening strikes

Snow Moon, February 10th, 2017

I yield to you
like the graying sky
yields to the Snow Moon
with understanding

the gravity of our love
is greater than any feat
I could attain alone

the warmth of our souls fused
more brilliant than a hundred stars
adorning a dark night

if I were the sky
I would be nothing
without you, my moon

I vow to swim to you
in the shallows
and in the flood

take your hand
in the ebb and the flow

just as the moon
promises to meet the sky
I will be there in the tide
swept away by this enormous love