You decided to
smile your way through,
all the way into my heart,
with the smile of a silent assassin
I can't recall letting in,
and the eyes of a risk,
a risk I'm willing to take
because what do I have to lose?
In the end,
the rage that makes your heart quake
is equal to the love
which makes your bones shake
and out of all the madness
coating the world in debris,
you'd still be the one I'd choose.

how would you know if your soul is broken?
simple.
you don't read poetry,
you write it.

"Protector of clarity"
In the German language
a name which combines
the two people who already
love him best.
An unspoken wish for him
to defend truth, pursue honor,
and live in integrity.
The concern is that in his pursuit
of these things, we will have caused
him to miss out on the lightness.

"Yahweh has given him laughter"*
In the Hebrew tongue,
a name which combines a person
set aside and his father, set aside
specially for me.
An unspoken desire for ease,
joy, and endless laughter to come
without struggle.
The worry is that with this lightness
will come an absence of the
struggles that make laughter
so enjoyable.

Water drips
timing seconds
one by one
light to dark
lay me to sleep
give me playbook as a pillow
cover me with old papers
whіsреr me headlines
breathe deeper
move slower
crawl closer
stay longer
discomb my eyebrow
grasp the wrong elbow
mess sugar with pepper
till the next season come

ten wings on five
black birds
sitting together
on the mulberry tree
set flight
all at once
startled
just one set of wings
the ones
on the woodpecker
his *******
stayed
pecking
as
the stealthy yellow
and white striped cat
clawed her way up the bark
closing distance
he just kept at it
some insect
peckpeckpeck
or the wood itself
and the cat her claws
driven into the bark almost
at the same intensity
rose almost to the limb
that held the peckerheaded
intenseness
of the stalked in
his one-sighted business,
as the cat,
on the limb below ,
close close as breath quickened
back arched
hunched
woody flew off.
***** willowed, scented the
limb the ****
crack of the *******
and
licked her paw.
No loss.
There is always
tomorrow.