Just for today, I ask
that no one stumbles, no one falls
that no one succumbs to anger
that no one allows themselves
to feel grief and despair.

Just for today
I ask for 24 hours of peace and harmony
so that all of us can feel what it's like
so all of us can believe it's possible.
If only for a short time, or possibly, forever.

Just for today let all the hungry be fed.
Let the soldiers set their guns down
let the families who are lost, be found.
Let everyone see  what love can do.
For just one day.

At a time.

you will feel the warmth of its current
just strong enough, just gentle enough
just kind enough
to maintain the float of our imaginations
let this be one stone cast in the water
let you be part of its rings

I watch you sitting at the window
of your 3rd floor apartment
while I sit on a bench at the end of the park
collecting the currency of poems.

I have a cup out, yes, but I'm looking for
spare words
some inspiration from someone who has too much
will share with me
but it's a cold night
those who pass by look away
keep silent.

So I look at you, your long brown hair
rivered around your shoulders-
how liquidly it moves when you turn your head
I can see now, you're talking to someone in the room
as if you wished they would keep quiet.
You have a window to look out of
this is what your life's about
and I'm watching you living it.

This breath
that carries these words
the exhalation
of language
trying to convey
the inhalation of experience
the life lived
that fashioned these words
trying to express
how much you mean to me
as each respiration attests.

this breath
that holds me
to the earth
this breath
unique in its experience
this breath
that each day
my heart earns
as each day
brings me the joy
of inhaling you.

I dig a hole in myself
and fill it with words