I'm afraid
We're going to isolate
Even further than we are

If we don't get a grip
On this sinking ship
Going down for the third

Being all I, me, mine
Where we spend our time
Inside our solitary rooms

This constant creep of self
Will soon be our death
If we keep humming this crazy tune

Our social butterfly
Has up and died
Cut off in mid-bloom

The once abundant life
Took to flight
With nothing much to do

But to isolate
I'm afraid
Even further than we are

With no flotation devices left
On this sinking ship
Going down for the third

If you really knew me
You'd know that I am
A student first
A teacher second

If you knew me
You'd know I need
Grace and patience
To stave off the Angst
Monster napping upon
My left lung

If you knew me
You'd know that I want
To give you grace and patience
Because you need it too

If you knew me
You'd cradle
My heart
My intentions
So softly in your
Callous-free palm

If you knew me
You'd know that love
Is my goal and my
Experience vibrates
Softly in step
With my heart beat

If you knew me
You'd know my
Heart raced through
The night and I woke
With diarrhea

If you knew me
You would not ask for my freedom
For my walks in the night on mossy paths
For hammock, new friends, Bukowski, cigarette,
A life that is separate but complimentary to yours,
For the sacred voice that speaks in the silence of the night

I will be more alive to you for these.

See me.
Know me.
Even through
The abuse and neglect
Your heart suffers
From past love

For nothing is more knowing
And loving than saying:

"I don't need you to
Light yourself on fire
To keep me warm."

I file away every beautiful moment,
Each a memory's spark in your eyes.

I've collected memories,
cobalt grave,
lustrous,
doleful,
resplendent,

That haven't even happened yet.
If I lose you, where will I file those sparks?

I still get lost in them.

i’ve been thinking a lot
about your hand in mine
the way that our fingers
and palms intertwine

but i think about death
about loss, about worth
i admit that i fear
to return to the earth

where our bodies dissolve
into roots of a tree
and will grow into trunk
then limb, then leaf

but i've heard from a bird
that death will reverse
and your heart will beat hard
like it did at your birth

so hold on for dear life
with your hand in mine
if death makes us let go
it is only for time



© Mike Mortensen

Do you ever wish you could choose your dream
Before you go to bed?

Mine'd find my nose lost, twisted
About jet-black, jawline beard hair
Scent of peppermint and the day's scrub cap

I'd get lost in the softness of underamour
Cotton blend cloth wrapped softly
Over chest fuzz and brown skin mounds
Musky and warm

Tongue rushing past tongue
Taste buds tingling like a newborn kitten's
Sand paper tongue or that zing that
Happens when you lick a battery.

Smiling eyes that look up at me
From chin rested on chest
And hand stroking face as if to say:
"I wouldn't be any other place
Than right here right now, so love me."

Two island flat feet, wide and deliberate,
Kicking like a baby might splash his
Feet in his first bath out of giddiness
And the longing for our ocean church.

Whispers of:
"I'm in love with you and
I'm so excited about it. And us."

A collection of songs that once covertly
Communicated longing and now
Proclaim belonging
Because--for ***** sake!--we waited
A long *** time
And it was worth it.

I guess I should start choosing dreams
Of the dark water abyss
Or flying
Or speaking 7 languages
Or a 6th and 7th sense.

Because I get to live this dream.
Every day.