Extraction

I can feel you here
as I breathe out and sink in
to this place
you helped me build
so you
could
leave.

photographs of your grandfather
when he was your age
with your same shining eyes
flash
softly
sometimes.

I squint at all the
shapes we made
to fit
each other
in

and I see that they
are empty
now.

now that

you

have
finally
left here.

we made a promise
and we broke it.

I see you
turn down the highway

in the opposite
direction

in your brand new pick up truck
with your emerald eyes skimming
past me.

and I wonder what to do
with what is left of you,
of this life I built
so you'd fit in.

Purple Grey

the purple asters sway
against the sky flat gray,
tread water through summer
and now I'm fading with the light,
a little more each day.

northwestern wind blows,
but we have a place we can go,
a turtle carcass slows or speeds
our hunt for rarities among rocks,
here at the mouth of the bay.

we skim and scan for lightness,
but we find things dead or broken,
glass still unremarkable
from bottles recently smashed,
we throw it back and skim again.

soon we will forget the feeling
of sand under our feet,
will yearn for what we lost
when summer turned to fall,
when we watched ourselves fading,

but the asters still sway,
against the sky smoky grey.

It Was Nice to See You

I thought I’d never see you again
But here you are
Forming in the air
Along dusty roads

You part your lips
To speak pure poetry
You'll need a lot of tools
To cultivate the land

Did you know
You’re a poem to me?

Your sapphire eyes sparkle,
Your scarlet lips smile

You’re forming here like dust
Or sugar in the air

I see sugar all over the air again,
Over skin, pale and tanned,
Dust flying all over the air again
On country roads

LoverMuse

I am a poet,
and he is my lovermuse.

his limbs fall into lines,
his fingers roll words to rhythm,
he drinks down history,
he tells me policy,
he sips my beers.

his brain is deep,
he talks and talks,
his eyes gaze,
his arms ripple and curve,
he says he takes it easy on the drugs now,
he has things to lose now.

he heats up next to me,
sleeps like white noise next to me,
his heart is beating
like lustlove to me,
he sees right into me,
knows how to lay his hands
right onto me.

I am a poet,
and he is the poem.

Acorn Falling

acceptance she thought she
saw/felt/heard
as an acorn fell into her lap
from the oak tree

later drinking/talking/crying
watching videos on her phone
she revealed her regret
at not coming home sooner

Drenched/Drowning

I wake up
to rain drops
fallingbeating
on the tin roof,

the sky is an even grey,
on the path
brown pine needles
create a new bed,

acorns dropping
sound like gunshots,
the moss on the rocks
will be slippery later

I turn to look at the sky
out my window, raindrops
one after the other,
like drops in a can

when the rain stops
we'll step on acorns,
soak in the forest as
the damp soaks into our skin

each drop of rain
drenchesdrowns me,
but I am on my way,
will be renewed

you'd like this morning
(the sounds on our tin roof)

Subsist

the pandemic
broke me.

hardly surviving by summer,
I subsisted on
books,
weed,
writeread,
island peace,
oak leaves,
wind on water,

the soft sound
of canopies above me,

swaying
twinkling
leaning
snacking
drinking
sparkling water,

light dancing
on the ripples of waves,

the wind,
and the vastness
of the sky,

clouds swaying by
altocumulus

Nobody's Perfect

there is sugar
all over
the air again,
sapphire eyes,
scarlet lips,
and golden skin,
your laugh echoing

Across the Acres

she is fleeting,
she is healed and whole,
she is looking for a love
as bright as the cotton candy sky,
she is looking for someone with a soul
as pink as the clouds tonight,
someone to watch the world with
as the sunset fades into midnight.

she is whole,
can be seen
just as she is,
she knows
he is not enough,
but she still wants him.

she is already organizing him
into the parts she will want
and the parts that won't work,
but you cannot have
half a person.

he is looking to be his whole self,
just for him,
he will not be kept,
he will not be categorized,
he will walk the land,
he will stop to stare
at the sky.

In the Heat of July

sugar baby pie,
I'd still live in all your lies,
falling into sparking eyes,
can't see through all this haze,
your eyes are grey just like the bay,
lingering in all my days,
I see them shining through the waves,

and you're my quartz below the sky,
I'd build a cottage in your lies,
staring to familiar eyes,
I'd take up all your days,
kiss your skin in all the ways,
learn to navigate this maze.

baby you've got me,
looking up at you,
wondering if this lust is true,
this sugary sweet daze,
killing me in all the ways,
in these slow and sparkling days.

my caramel baby pie,
I want you safe between my thighs,
we'll both be breathing in the sighs,
I'm wishing for your salty taste,
your fingers wrapped around my waist,
through your grey and sparkling eyes,
forgetting all these earthly lines.

your eyes are shining in the sky,
midnight lies between my thighs,
the bay glistening sparkling wet,
since the first day that we met.

Eyes Like the Bay

pretty guys with pretty lies,
reflections of oak leaves in their eyes,

your caramel skin,
that twinkling sin.

the more I try,
the more I find
so many traces
of familiar lines,

and you’re still
selling me,
your pretty lies,
and eyes,
and lines.

the bay is twinkling in time
with the rhythm of these lies,
the sun is shining high
making deeper all the lines,
and making pretty
all these times.

that sparkling sin
reflecting in
clouds whisking by,
across the sky,

within your grey-blue eyes
you sell the prettiest of lies.

Waning Moon

My heart is a cottage,
waves wish washing,
trees rustling,
loons calling in the night

My heart is an island,
gazing at stars,
fires crackling,
sand even in the bed sheets

My heart is a cottage,
moss-covered rocks,
oak leave silhouettes,
gardner snakes slithering

My heart is an island,
the waning moon shining,
midnight rhythm of the bay,
painted turtles bobbing heads

Goodbye City Lover

Our hearts are empty rooms,
You didn’t notice a single clue,
Sat alone to watch the city sunset,
Sky warm and ombre

You’ve been cabbage growing,
Ivy browning in the sun,
You’ve been shining in the blue light,
I hardly thought you were the one.

I asked for diamonds love,
But they weren’t enough,
I asked you to stop with the names,
But it took too long,

I asked for family,
But mine was broken:
A mean mother,
Ranting sister,
Dead father,
Wandered brother,
Selfish stepmother,
Pushover stepfather,
It won’t be you, love,
It won’t be you.

I may have been broken
But I’m healing now,
This apartment was our home,
but it’s empty rooms now.

Perfect limbs
In the golden light
Of the late afternoon,
Curled up head to toe,
It wasn’t enough
To save you.

Escaped, Got Away

The bay glitters in front of me,
The wind is calm, but cold.

Little successes:
An email sent
A half hour doing yoga

And little failures:
90+ messages, texts, and emails from you,
Mocking female empowerment,
Telling me I’m not strong,

Saying you want money for the earrings,
And the Netflix subscription.

You don’t matter as much
As the sound of the waves,
Calm and constant,
The moving of the trees and clouds
By the September wind.
It shuffles and shakes the leaves
All around me.

You still have your spot
Under the skin of my chest,
But the bay glitters in front of me,
The sand warms my calloused feet,
And on this island,
I am safe from you.

I finally left you,
while back home,
the bay glistened.

Do It, Don't

here i am tripping all over my feet again -
stop, you will stop, you will stop me.
here i am tripping all over my words again.
stop, you will stop me.

the life of a student is a sad one,
the life of a poet is a sad one,
the life of a lover is a sad one.

(you have taught me to want write to again,
i thought i'd never want
to write again).
she says, do it.
i say, no, i don't want to.

Extinguish the Sun

There was that one summer
When I tried to extinguish the sun
Was so determined
I could leave you,

But you only stayed burning.
You and me, hot red cheeks
Sweltering in the heat
Of a golden afternoon

That summer we tried
To extinguish the sun,
We thought we'd watch it,
As it turned right to ash

We tried to stop its bright burn,
But we are still waiting
For billions of years to pass -
And you warm me still.

The sun is golden this morning
As I scan the shoreline
And feel the heat of you,
Shield my eyes from your glow