in his love
my spirit softened
like a fragrant balm
had been soothed
over the raging storm
of my disquieting
thoughts,
within my soul
the storm
had been quelled
and a stillness
fell about
my feet
like autumn leaves
softly
silently
covering the ground
blanketing
that
which i always wished
would swallow me
whole

if only we would love  
with our eyes
closed
and our hearts
open

we would not see
the outer shell

we would simply
fall in love with
the soul
the spirit
the heart
before us

for the rest
eventually falls away

I love the sound you make
In your sleep when the hair on
My chest tickles your nose.

It's the most beautiful grunt.
With your make-up on on a
Saturday night, I'm stunned;

Can't breathe, but without it,
Fresh from the shower, you are
More woman than any.

I've been in love before, I've
Taken in a girl's morning
Breath and thought the smell

More refreshing than that of a
New book or guitar strings, but
****, I love the scent of your

Self.
How do you spell "love"?
I don't know. I struggle with

My own name when your
Eyes look up from whatever
Wherever and

Punch mine right between
Themselves with the force of
A grateful supernova.

You rub your cheekbones from
Smiling so much,
And I have found a feature to

Worship like a deity they raised
Pyramids for back before
They knew beauty from

Goddessness.
I am a lover of moments.
You breathe, then I.

“but if you have to move your best friend’s body…
…you’re on your own.”

Your best friend dies
Before your eyes
Somehow stays alive
Then what?

***** salt-licked hair
Brittle and frayed by medicine
World’s unfathomable weight
Trembling beneath the Wisdom Tree

Her whole being crumples (arrugar)
But her life-force remains intact
Body bone
Running on spirit reserves
Why is that?

She stands and cries
Staring into ether
I sit
Wringing my hands

Her tears strike the ground
In tree-gecko unison

'''

Pacific parasite super-strains
Blood coated throat
The full range of abuse’s color on all fronts
for decades
Attempted assaults, ****
Dengue
Giant Centipede venom to the skull

But worst of all
Rootlessness and fear

the monkey on her back
had a monkey on its back
   and was smoking a cigarette

'''

Have you ever seen someone
Completely broken?

Corpsic shell of a woman
Gaunt, wan in the tropics

“Don’t put your trust in walls…
…walls will only crush you when they fall”

Brick-bludgeoned body
The shrapnel lay like
Sun scorched
Novice-woven baskets
At her feet

But now she can see
And breath
Real breath

'''
Genocide’s a *****, yes.

Africans seem fatalistic to Americans
Baby boy body, Grandpa human- shield

“They’re your babies”
Short-lived, yes
But now they have peace

Witnesses still weave the jungle

What do you do with a friend who’s
Seen real atrocity? Evil?

'''

I’m learning.

Prayer is power
Will transcends the concrete (Bunkle, too.)

She serves realness only
Her seeking hands unweave the sacred
Time is of no luxury right now

Serve people through love
and Grace awaits discovery

'''
I’ve never carried a bleeding body.
I needn’t “fear the terror by night,
Nor the arrow by day”

But I saw someone perish
And resurrect

What a gift
What a gift

Gubaadagem, Tinmad.

Why do I cry. 

Why the Chevy Suburban's
Cigarette lighter fire
To my sternum's reverse?

Why this firefly's incandescent 
Luminescent, opaque gel
Behind my eyes?

Why these toes scorching sand
Black glass footprint
Path?

Why the tightened heart's
Water ballon tie 
Swollen, stretched?

Why these trees'
Branches reaching 
Seeking my shaded rootbark?

---

Tell me: 
How do you choose between 
A warm valor blanket
Straight from the clothesline
And
Feet made sore by dancing 
To songs
Throat sore, raw
From roar of laughter? 

Time and distance? 
Space?
Reach.

These salt water tears,
Pacific made,
Maroon sunset over Federai inspired 
Collect and I guess
They belong to you 
Too. 

Weave.
Repair.
Patch thatched roof.

Water. 

Pause. 

Pray:
Sachigchig ma weash.

She had deep deportation eyes
Raven's feather hair
Skin as sweet as molasses
And of the same color there

Her name was never Lita
At least no two times the same
She wore the same old pair of sandals
Learning fast how to play the game

She would let you so close
But never there within
Her body was her refuge
A faultless heart so full of sin

She never took what was not belonging
The world owed her a lot
If she broke the piggy bank
It was all that she had got

In the blackness of the white room
Full of pressed rats and warthogs
She said it was their damnation
A Titanic corting through the fog

The winter came early that season
She felt the heat of I.C.E.
Her skates were best blade thin
Not thick enough for her own device

She had deep deportation eyes
The last time I saw her around
I don't see her at all now
Thinking that makes me frown