one day I had a dream
you bit the head off of a blue jay
and spit it back into her nest.
when I asked why you said:
To prove you will never leave me.
here I  am,
on command about to run
across the canyon and I
laugh real loud in my
skin tight
dress:

the one cut real low in the back
in the shape
of an obtuse
triangle, jarring contrast
to my scared-straight spine
but I still
slouch,
don’t I?.

I twist the straw into
crooked pieces
and tell myself things:

   make sure they know
  you are having
a real good time
show your teeth
hearty laugh
with belly and mouth and your
lips are stretched to the limits like your
social apathy.
show your full moon eyes
and hide.
hold your tonic like a wand;
fall asleep inside of
yourself

in the middle of
everything.

 

later, he will show
you photographs
to prove you were
there.
if you are lucky,
he notices
the door opening,
the splash
of scarlet on your tights
as you replace each page,
as you become the
walking lake flooding
the wake that held
you, and he becomes
the witness that love
is shaking sometimes
but still sharp
and with purpose,
the utility that seizes
to deconstruct,
to create with its
generous efficacy;
make more of less,
make more of one solid square,
make moats of larger masses
retaining density.

not the surgeon or the stitch
but the undulation,
the quiver of the knife,
the first wave
hits.

“tributaries”