I'd like to take your
glasses off someday, and set
them on a table
then I'll lean forward, as slow
as the way
                        you
             stir
                        your
             cup

even I can't tell
anymore, which of the things
                    I say are true / lies
but for some unknown reason
you're here, you know who I am

Roots growing deeply
Seeking life in quiet earth
Tough and unadorned
Until coaxed by gentle rain
I bloom joy a thousand times

Insistent plucking
clutching, smothering darkness
Grasping at my soul
Begging me to come inside
And stay long after I die

echos in canyons
calling endlessly in time
lost in the ether
i screamed your name too loudly
and the avalanche has come

Smell the forest’s breath
Sweet pinesap, hot brush, decay
The mountain’s flesh bleeds
sharp, fine dust; rocks clot the roads
Selfish love wounds its lover

When you said to me
“Fireflies in my bedroom”
You meant “Stay with me”
The wall cracked at two am
Though it has not crumbled yet

I kiss the sunset
As I wish you good morning
You bid me gute Nacht
While dawn delivers my love
Darkness never comes for us

why does thunderclap
over a sunlit sky — feel
like an oath you'd break

but then the rain came
where each drop planted a kiss
on my skin — sweet, soft
and tender — exactly where
you promised each one will be

now each thunderclap
over a sunlit sky — is
hope I believe in