We felt the winter moving through the air
but didn't feel it sink into our bones—
as by and by it settles into stones—
and yet it did. I can't recall just where

we were when I first felt that we were cold,
but I remember how you shivered even
in our bed beneath the blankets, even
under all my weight that you could hold,

insisting it was coming from within
your bones, deep down, and radiating out
to make your hand feel chilly in my own.

And now I've got the shivers, too. My skin
is cool with winter, chatters in my mouth,
as by and by it settles in a stone.

I believe I am the one
Who has your needs measured
Who answers every yearning
Coming from deep inside you
The mission I aspire to
Is only to fulfill you
It was assigned to me
Back when the stars were born
To be here for you only
My first quest and my last
Till oceans dry
And suns burn out

I imagined that you jumped off a cliff
with a smile on your face
and telling me
I can survive this fall
but i knew you couldn't
it was too high
told you to stop, but you jumped anyways
the whole world turned dark and
spirits invaded my mind
I awoke and didn't sleep again
and it was hell all over.

hearing Shakespeare,
my-own-voice
crack'd, stilted,
stuttered-shut by the
mocking silence of still
waters on the brain

poverty exposed,
raggedy verbiage for a
raggedy man's
frayed fringed garments

ashamed of
every word I ever wrote,
not even ten survivors,
not enough to pray collectively
for muse~forgivement

****,
hush me not,
no chairs turned,
the public has not texted,
new tattoo:
write on for audience of one

a necessity, a life sentence

a single topic, a subject,
a life, mine,
still unmastered,
decades of trying

poverty exposed, unmasked
for what it is worth,
or what it is not