all we have to separate the mind from the body
is light and dark: the reaching of god’s hands

over the world. i imagine that even the sun
asks be tucked in at night. & how could god refuse

another bed time story. a chance to be heard,
a chance to say “I know exactly why you exist,

why you need to be touched just to make sure
that you are still here.” we are not all light.

i know a boy so empty his father’s fists
       pass right through him as if punching the dust

from his ribcage. his broken breath a reminder
       that he still has something to lose in this world.

& i know a father broken and praying to a god
       he cannot recognize as his own,

holding the darkness in his church-shaped hands
        which soften in daylight

he kisses the blood off his stained glass knuckles
        & prays for morning. his god is heavy with

the weight of history, with the burden we know
as genesis. but how could the body, light and vulnerable

refuse to touch darkness. how could the body refuse
        to know that it is still here.

Cuando he llegado aquí se detiene mi mano.
Alguien pregunta: -Dime por qué, como las olas
en una misma costa, tus palabras
sin cesar van y vuelven a su cuerpo?
Ella es sólo la forma que tú amas?
Y respondo: mis manos no se sacian,
en ella, mis besos no descansan
por qué retiraría las palabras
que repiten la huella de su contacto amado,
que se cierran guardando
inútilmente como en la red el agua,
la superficie y la temperatura
de la ola más pura de la vida?
Y, amor, tu cuerpo no sólo es la rosa
que en la sombra o la luna se levanta,
o sorprendo o persigo.
No sólo es movimiento o quemadura,
acto de sangre o pétalo del fuego,
sino que para mí tú me has traído
mi territorio, el barro de mi infancia,
las olas de la avena,
la piel redonda de la fruta oscura
que arranqué de la selva,
aroma de maderas y manzanas,
color de agua escondida donde caen
frutos secretos y profundas hojas.
Oh amor, tu cuerpo sube
como una línea pura de vasija
desde la tierra que me reconoce
y cuando te encontraron mis sentidos
tú palpitaste como si cayeran
dentro de ti la lluvia y las semillas!
Ay que me digan cómo
pudiera yo abolirte
y dejar que mis manos sin tu forma
arrancaran el fuego a mis palabras!
Suave mía, reposa
tu cuerpo en estas líneas que te deben
más de lo que me das en tu contacto,
vive en estas palabras y repite
en ellas la dulzura y el incendio,
estremécete en medio de sus sílabas,
duerme en mi nombre como te has dormido
sobre mi corazón, y así mañana
el hueco de tu forma
guardarán mis palabras
y el que las oiga un día recibirá una ráfaga
de trigo y amapolas:
estará todavía respirando
el cuerpo del amor sobre la tierra!

isn't this
the greatest tragedy of all?
two people finding themselves in
each other's bodies,
only to get lost again.

i am alone yet again,
wallowing in thick melancholy
letting the darkness seep onto my mouth
and onto my ribcage it accumulates,
turning my chest into an empty void of despair.

all alone, i gasp for air
but nothing seems to pass through
this black hole i created for myself.

all alone, i am afraid
afraid that this emptiness would swallow me whole
and leave me cold and numb, lifeless.

i am alone yet again,
and i'm out of breath.

Oh!  There it is!
The blood of my Mothers’
Sins
Blossoming on
My white sheets
Like a bouquet of English roses.
A shame -
Laundry day had
Been yesterday.  

My thighs have been painted
Rouge -
They blush
Like my cheeks
When my gaze
Lingers on my body
Too long in the mirror
As I put on my Sunday dress.

The needles in my
Lower back fill my
****** with blood -
I am a woman now -
And as such I must
Wake before the sun
And wash my sheets
And my body
Before anyone has a chance
To smell the iron and the shame
Between my legs.  

I have never been so
Acutely aware of my body:
My sore ******* feel like
Overripe tomatoes ready to burst,
My stomach bloated and taking up
Space I’m told is not ladylike -
My head throbs, my limbs ache, and
I continue to shed my insides.
How is it I never noticed
The cry of my body before?

A week of blood
Before I have served my sentence
For a woman
Who dared to disobey -
I clean the stains
And wash myself
Away.

and here i am again
at the intersection
of pedestrian language
& old wives tales
swallowing gum
like 7 year memories
opening umbrellas inside
cause i can't seem get away
from all of this rain
i ******* with my left hand
cause i was told
back in highschool that
"it feels like someone else is doing it"
it gets me wondering
about the difference between
losing you and finding out
that some one else found you
or my sleep
or lack thereof
its starting to tear me apart
i keep having this dream
where you are in
an unfamiliar body of water
trying to wash my poetry
off of your hands
or the one where
something happens in my chest
every time you sit
on someone else's bed
i'm tired of feeling like something you've misplaced
but don't have the heart
to look for anymore
tired of you saying my name
like you're trying to bury it
i'm tired of wondering
if you can tell the difference
between the absence
of my voice & silence
the other day
i almost started sobbing
at work when a woman
asked me about
our equipment
i was explaining how
things come apart
and almost mentioned your name
it made me think
of how you used to say
things like "what would you do
if i showed up on your doorstep
one day?" now, i haunt
the windows in my house
i don't leave for weeks at a time
i sit on the porch like the dog
you didn't shoot behind the shed
the one that refuses to die
until you come home again
i told somebody once, that
you didn't even know
what my voicemail sounded like
i wonder if they thought
it was because you
are so important that i never
let it ring that many times
before picking up
or if you dont know
what it sounds like
because you've never called
you can't be the ****** weapon
and the search party
i'm tired of all the seats
to the ferris wheel in my chest
being empty
tired of your voice
being the one i look for
in abandoned places
that one sound i beg
to bounce back
down vacant hallways
i just seem to stand there
in all of that quiet
like someone looking for a mistake
on an eviction notice
so i guess the hardest part
isn't letting go
it's forgetting
you ever had a grip
in the first place
and since you've been gone
i wonder if when
you pushed yourself away from me
you used your left hand
so it felt like someone else did it

I am stuck.
I can not breathe.
I need my life support.
Please help me.
Breathe for me.
Make your heart beat for me.

Too late.

I don't remember, any more,
The exact shape of your hands
As I held them in mine,
Caressed them,
Memorized the length of your fingers,
The depth of your calluses.

I don't remember, any more,
Exactly your height, how much
Taller than me
You were, where
My head rested on your chest
When you held me tightly close.

I don't remember, any more,
Your scent, when we lay together
Creating our own
Magic rhythm,
Matching our heartbeats as we
Touched the sky, together.

I don't remember, any more,
The sound of your voice, calling
My name as though
It were a song
Within itself, a precious treasure
You valued with all your being.

And I don't remember, any more,
The color of your eyes, the shape
Of your lips,
Only...
How your eyes crinkled at the corners
And your laugh, as you told me,

"I love you."