Stephen Dunn is dead at 82.
He captured life on the page
in lines I felt when I was 42
heart's know nothing of age.

Valentine in his shirt pocket
suffered from Love's black kiss
used to be its favorite neglect.
It's always been a hit or miss.

I used to read your lips,
like books,
I loved watching you write.

Lately you have been silent,
like a flash at night,
a lovely sight.

Breaking apart at the seams,
with all my might,
you sent me a message, but
I just didn't read it right.

Now, your silence is deafening,
but at least I got the message
last night.

I was a snake slithering on the ground,
For time untold before I was found:
By some sparkling-haired deity beyond beauty's bound;
I remember emerald eyes within an ocean round,
The warmth of her smile threatened to brown,
The strength of her soul I felt magnetically bound;
Picked me up and healed my legs;
Then with a kiss she flew away.

So now I grow wings,
To learn to do the same.

You mindless thwarts. Repent from your unbelieve!
See the genius in fiction and bow to its supremacy.
For haven't the mind conceived so many great things?
Even the world was born out of Fiction....
For your unbelieve I pray you :
Wonder off the savanna. Reek to the world in shame !
Or else kiss the feet of the Mastery of mind.
For even that tiny space
And you clutching within onto breath,
Are figments of SOMEONE'S  imagination.

She sits, knees down,
In practiced posture.

Grounded and calm.

Her curled fingers
Rest on her thighs.

Precise.
Impervious.
Immovable.
Her own.


In her smile,
A wisp on the wings
Slowly unfurls,
In a whirl
Of wise and winding

Mischief.


As honey'd tones
Roll from her maw,
I am humbled.
Hanging.
Enchanted.
Enthralled.

Lucky to be involved.


And in her every word
There is a piece of her
Unseen,
Unheard,
But no less present.

Pure effervescence.

On all terms,
In her way,
Effortless
And pleasant.


Purposeful, she;
Spinner of tales.

Gawking at the light
In search of bounty in streams
That hold no water