these foothills
rolling in pine and
grassland meadows,
where silvery lupine
follow the melting snow,
hint of the mountains to come
in spiny crags that
catch a cumulus pocked sky
cottonwood tufts rain
this day after solstice

first blossoms
of the cherry
winter's dream
awakened

listening
was
never part
of the
job

out not so early
running my gait
solitude in every
graveled step

each iterative
a lesson
to fail
gracefully

entre un soplo
y poesía que llene
el cielo como estrellas
esta luna atascada

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

between breath
and poetry that fills
the sky as stars
this moon, stuck.

I woke up at a bar scene
fifteen years forward, you,
you stood the same way you stand
today and I recognized the back of your
figure the way I recognize the back
of my hand and
I wasn’t sure if the room around me froze
or I just simply froze myself, spilling
drinks like love and love like drinks
you wore the same shade of hypocrisy you
wore that day, that last day
I thought you were dead
I told myself you were dead
it went as imagined, you stumbled
over slurred words and wooden
stools and I remembered exactly why
our lines crossed quickly,
why fate didn’t keep us close for long
why I labeled you as ‘toxic’ and shelved
you in the back of my mind, for years
upon years upon years it’s been
almost 15