and suddenly
the start is something like a trickle of mountain spring water
it's minute, persistent, almost prideful
the progression is natural
it's almost a flow
it's an onslaught
the sound of bed sheets pulled over
soft silken sweeps emit in intervals
and then dispersal
with the gradual suddenness of sand slipping through fingers
like the clatter of marbles dropped from a hand
the multitudes emerge
scattered like a dandelion
consumed by the wind
and extension
until the last pin prickle straddles the edge of consciousness and imagination
with a pause
it cascades
the stream of water, stronger now, a river
and suddenly
impulse

when it comes time you must
    leap

and landing doesn't matter
because once you
    leap


you've already started
and it's momentum
and it's discipline
and it's waking up every day
to
        leap


even further
to do the thing
because the only way to do the thing is
                                        to leap



do the thing.

your dark hair on my pillowcase
it snarls me from my dream
i'm pulled awake by this dark strand
and all at once I am ******.

your dark hair on my pillowcase
spills and courses an ebony stream
my eyes drift to your softly sleeping face
and I pull you into my embrace

your dark hair tangles in my fingers
coils and grasps my memory
eyes, hands, lips
just beyond fingertips

your dark hair tangles in my fingers
our amor cloaked in an onyx curtain
I count the flutters of your eyelashes
and I kiss your neck so that I can inhale your pulse

there is a skeleton of an idea
born from some barely formed imagination
abducted from its incubation
and slammed into the dirt
under layers and layers
it fossilizes
and bone becomes crystal
and silicates abound
and the impression is ripped from the ground
paraded amongst the public
strung up and put on show
but what has happened to the flesh and sinew?

I am challenged by the cold
in this negative space that I am in
full of sappers and drainers
painted takers and gainers
and I am exhilarated by this winter
full of space that I can consume
that takes from me everything
and gives to me revelation

like the last drop squeezed from a parched lemon

my thoughts are spooled in tangles infinitely
draw one out like a spider silk thread
thinly gingerly cling and extract
this pure distillation so delicate
lepidoptery, a million beautiful ideas arrayed on a board
pinned and preserved
no longer ephemeral

how dare you be so cute
wandering as you please with attitude
sassy meow at my approach
queen of the house I adore you the most

wondrous shine, your coat so sleek
knocking over things, havoc, you wreak
despite all the toys, it's the box you seek
it's three in the morning and you simply must eat