She hums to the beat
Of my racing heart
And my deal with the cousin of death
Collapses and at once I resurrect
With her laying on my naked chest
I transform into a playful child
Fingers travelling at a snail’s pace
Through the traffic of her hair
A world stricken with war
All my life, I’ve run headless
In pursuit of the look of peace
And there it wore your face
And it’s beautiful

after
the
spring storm
while
canary-yellow finches
singing
back and forth
in
morse code
to
keep us warm

I'm oh so far away from
where you are.

I have climbed your mountain
and found only scree and granite
at the top.

Others have been here and left
a stone.  I have nothing to leave
you but an empty dish. A cold
meal once eaten is like a frozen
embrace.  Empty is empty.

I am walking away from your
promise like a cat leaves a
deserted dish.

No! Do not touch me.  
Touch only the breeze as
I leave.  Do not speak to me

I lie
in the air,
crying with the
gulls.


I mourne
Kaddish.



Caroline Shank

The higher
you are,
the more
hurt you’ll
endure.
Plunge from
elation,
you’ll pay
the price.

You love me
Like a dog loves a bone
Or a cat loves a mouse

Which is to say
You love me for a while
Until I no longer taste good

You love me long enough
To carve tooth marks into me
But not long enough for it to stop hurting

You love me
Like a tree loves water
Or the sky loves the stars

Which is to say
You love me when you need me
When I am there and there’s no one better

You love me half the time
When there’s not too much of me
When I am accentuating your beauty

You love me
Like you love yourself
Or I love myself

Which is to say
You love me sometimes
Despite all of the pain

You love parts of me
The parts that are there when I’m happy
Or when I pretend to be happy

You love me
The way you know how to
And I love you the way I do

Wander alone, for once
Wander about,
on this earth
you don't quite understand

Take a nap on the sea,
for once
feel the cold water
being warmed by the sun

Sleep by the banyan tree,
for once
watch as the snake slither
under your feet

By then you'll hear whispers;
someone else inside you
Yourself, but not you,
saying things you dare not speak
Of pronanities, maybe
or of sorrow
your deepest wish, perhaps
of not waking up the next morning

So wander alone, for once

A dance, my dance, between realities
My dance of seasons and of life  
A dance I often danced before
Until I felt that mind

That mind, her mind, so joyful
Her mind, so strange, so kind
A mind I never sensed before
Until I saw that face

This face, her face, so beautiful
Her face, her eyes so bright
A face, I never watched before
Until I touched that life

This life, this girl, I danced with
I saw her blazing eyes,
This life, I never knew before
I want to call it mine