For a lover long ago
you were standing on my
beating chest
I was younger, melic
in my nervousness
washed in that garden
you traversed with me
can you even see my face
from up there?

or is every fable
from your feed true?
Joy's a woman and
that woman is no longer
I

round and swollen
tears; eyes swollen

waddle and beguile
listen; forced smiles

rubbing my bump
swallow the lump

          a shy little smile, down onto my belly
          cry into my biscuit and onto my jelly

          questions come fast and answers come faster
          ignored and vanishing into the plaster

it's the first year we haven't
taken turns 'round the table
rejoicing that we're
happy
or healthy
or able
   because we lost
          *gabriel

I woke late this morning from too much "fun" last night
Yes, I was back down "L" street perched on my bench
I tried to wear colours, but they didn't show through the dark
And I put a clasp in my hair
I thought I looked a little less than dead
The cherry trees in the make-shift "park" are starting to blossom
I feel bad for them because they're stuck planted there
Perhaps this is why they weep
I thought of sharing my paper bag whiskey gift
But no
So I shared my tears instead

Freezing a glance
Wind cuffs down-white heliums
Sweeps contrails
Separates cirrus across the moon

Cresting wave tormented
wind against steel
movement in movement
sprays of hair

Blizzard of petals from the apple
Furious snow
drifts off—  garage roof  
Fog that haunts the river on the coldest nights
___

The walk across the alley
took—
so long—
A lifetime from the doorway
of someone else’s impatience
Prints of motion
record the loss
a single set in snow

But there!
on the icy, shoveled surface of night
lies the snowflake of a bird
impossibly molted
Song of a feather
caught—
Flailing! Helpless!

More than lovely for its lying there!
Lying there!

She loosens on tiptoe
the latch of her window,

slides upward the sash
and the shine of the moon

pours over the sill,
like it's rushing downhill

like a silver stream,
flooding her room.