Feir

that night I didn’t kiss you
outside Tony’s
on the pier
or that time you said
you loved me
and I ordered you
a beer

the way I couldn’t stand it
when you sought
my shifting eyes
or the senselessness
I spouted
in ambiguous
replies

when you tried to hold my hand
I’d find somewhere else
to put it
and when anything felt
green
I’d find some way to
uproot it

and that night I left you crying
outside Tony’s
on the pier
as the surf
plowed through the pilings
I heard every
tumbled
tear

Expectantita

Sometimes we get ambushed
by the happiness we’ve hunted -
just because it’s unexpected
doesn’t mean it isn’t wanted

I know you didn’t mean to
and I understand you’re scared
and of course it’s complicated
and of course you’re unprepared

but I know the heart that guides you
and I know you’ll soon see how
much more strength there is inside you
you just didn’t need ‘til now

Their eyes may burn with judgment
disapproval or duress
and of course it won’t be easy
and of course it’s all a mess

but the things that bring you worry
are no causes for concern;
you already know what matters
and it won’t take long to learn

that it isn’t sacrificial
when the things you lose are worthless
and it isn’t accidental
when it grows into your purpose

Sometimes we get sentenced
to more grace than we can take -
no one blessed with breath is
ever anyone’s mistake

Jacaranda

reaching through
the morning mist
shedding drops of
amethyst

leave the green to
elms and pines
leave the gold to
mums and mines

let your branches
spread and set
a swaying crown of
violet

a kiss from God
and from Ms. Sessions
in each blossom
as it beckons

shame the sky
through every hue
he proffers, never half as
blue

My Fair Lady

through gate and
lost in you my
carnival girl,
all laughter and wonder and awe,
with shouts of step right up,
three balls for a buck,
neon spinning dizzy through
shrieks and squeals and flashbulbs and
crackle pop calliope spilling
from the fun house from
the hall of mirrors from
the winking stars themselves with

things all and every like a state fair you carry
the brightest the fullest the best of the best
all blue ribbons in
blonde hair, blue sashes
on sundresses,
cornstalks high as houses and
wide brimmed hats,
from the top of the Ferris
to the mock up of Paris with
rickety rides and shady jakes pressing buttons
just dicey enough to ride just
solid enough to trust

and I am running around
too excited to talk too busy to
cry if I fall like a kid all
cotton candy fingered and
pop fizz flustered so alive you
wonder if there was life before if there is
life after but you don’t really care you’re so
rich in moments and in

you, my circus girl,
my peanutsawdusthighwire day,
every day,
smile like a midair no net somersault and held breath
catch
that stops five hundred
hearts at once
and stilt men spider by tossing
confetti and clowns pour from a car while two small
eyes,
so wide,
so wide,
and fingers forget and
a balloon slips up
and up
past the moon
into a great and grinning
heaven....

[mid 90's. next week is july - yay!]