Clear the way!
Can't you feel the rain?
It is soft now,
But it bares its bite.
Clear this road so the carriage men may run,
Gather your families, be ready to leave.
Here it comes,
The storm! Can't you see?
Don't you feel these winds ripping up this land,
Get away while you can,
Or die with the land.

When the acid that burns your heart
Ceases to swell and ebbs back
Enough to let you roll onto your side and drift off
The sleep of the just
Is not really it
But you snore and dream
Like you haven't for a bit
The Googly eyed slumber
No longer suppressed
Is now vivid
And scary
And funny
I guess
Alien invasion
Slasher movie
Murderous governance
Brought about by myself
Seems to be the preponderance
While friends and family
Point and laugh
And look on.

I don't need
friendship
endless drama
love or laughter
I listen to the
spontaneity
of the wind
I study the
poetry of
dead trees
I begin to
understand
the adventure
of wild birds ...
Clay.M

Love is a tide,
soft, inevitable,
etching names into sand.

But understanding,
the moon’s hush pull.

To be held is one thing.
To be known—shadows cradled,
no flinch, no turning away.

That is love, not by default,
but by choice.