we are walking
fall is ending
leaves, they paint the cold grey ground
crushed and conquered
no defending
as they crunch: a sorry sound.

Steeples scraping at the tired blue sky
A little boy with bright blue eyes
A blue bug flies up a lady’s dress
The radio plays a Blue Christmas
The ocean mirrors a pale blue cloud
The stars are watching from their blue shroud
A dark blue ship is sailing in
The dock is blue and crumbling
A dark man fishes with his bluest pole
Services end, a blue bell tolls
A boy and girl, pick blueberries
Her blue skirt caught on a thorn tree
I’m feeling blue, I’m not sure why
You wore a suit, a light blue tie
The minutes change the clock is blue
My shoes and eyes and sorrow too
So I drag a blunt blade across a blue vein
And this red blood pours out my blue pain

I watch a lost warrior – Dido’s Aeneis
Wandering, a lost lamb
Protruding from the earth, a sore thumb
Stuck out
Uncomfortable
Obviously and avidly running
Into the arms of the earth
Mother
Burial and birth
Consecutive forms,
A staged production.

Four sockets stare loftily into the room
Surveying their surroundings
Three holes in each face
Two eyes and a mouth
Unwillingly, they look shocked.

In the morning things appear still – shadows
Peter pan sewed his back on but
Sometimes I think I won’t be able to attach my own
Shadow – or head
And it will slip silently to the floor
Eyes closed
The weight of the world
Too much to fathom
Mouth open, tongue lolling
Like a dog’s.

Like Dido for her warrior – I lose sleep
Feeling as though some plot or undertaking is slipping by me
Like Socrates and his dreams – I stand on solid beliefs
But I do not want to surrender – necessarily
Traveling here I was unsure
From another place
I am – you know that
I feel unfamiliar sometimes. I feel awake.
Often, my voice matches my thoughts
Often – it does not.
Spill me! Like a dark, red wine
Over your grey rug
Dull and dreary
It needs some brightening up!

Last night, I was enveloped and stamped under the stars
I was compressed into a supernova and then
Danced on by ten galaxies – their feet consistently in rhythm
Commended as the constellations applauded my smallness
Convinced that I was as bright as they

Last night, I asked the starry sky why it twinkled and
Shuddered above my head
The stars replied that they could not close their eyes
And so – remained winking
Eternally attempting to blink away their tears
Camouflaged entirely by the night’s brilliance

Last night, I was humbled and humored by the stars – willing
Given another opportunity to become celestial for a brief second
Secure, and peacefully remaining in existence
With the rhythm
Of the night sky and I
Cried with the stars
Collapsed and crinkled inside of the world
Crushed
And for a minute, meant more than myself
The world as a part of me, and I, a part of everything else