I grew up like you

              with you

         taller than you

             a country girl

                     through and through like you

long summer days

        a golden haze

                     of corn

                     and wheat

                      and barley

frozen winter nights

                   instilling us with fright

                            when we'd hear the coyotes howl

                             and spend the next day

                            wondering what they had done

playing outside

           in the mud

          in the sun

           in the fields

            in the smokehouse

           on the roads

there were no cars

              no people

               no noises

       to distract us from our fun

now we're older

     adults I suppose

     I'm still a country girl

But you're an everywhere girl

        I'm too afraid

        to pick up and leave

        my roots tie me down

         and I can't escape

       this life I have not even tried to make

But you

            you're an everywhere girl

                   at home

                        cities

                         towns

                          near and far

                          across the world

                                 alone in concrete glass and steel

                 you are happy

                  you are alive

                   you are filled with wonder

                   so bursting with emotion

                                          that you forget to call me

your sister

                     alike

                         but unlike you

          who doesn't need to hear your voice every day

          your friend in silence

                     your friend in conversation

           who understands your need to adventure

                        who wishes for her own stories

but is too scared to move

                 go too far

                          from what she knows

I wish that I was an everywhere girl too

                         loving it all

                      free rambling

                   independent

                          always smiling

                       You're a record store

                                   full of music

           You're a Wonka bar

                         hiding a golden ticket

                    You're a bonfire

                                       keeping everyone warm

                                 shooting sparks into the night

      Looking for nothing

            but finding EVERYTHING

You're an everywhere girl

                  and I'm learning a lot from you

You're an everywhere girl

            and I want to be too

I saw a glass swan
Sitting on a glass lake
A step on that glass
My legs would quake

One look down,
I made the connection
What I saw
Was my own reflection

It was icy December
The snow was a' drifting
A solid ice layer,
The water was lifting

I turned 'round the swan
A beauty to see
All covered with ice
And frozen debris

A clue to the tale
Any detective would wonder
Subtle hints at design
A story was under

In that layer of ice
Two webbed feet in a vice

Glassy eyes admiring
A lovely swan's face
His own vain image,
This was the case

A sad lonely picture
Somber and Grey
So this was the price
That he had to pay

So much looking
Into the mirror
He wasted his life
Not seeing clearer
7/17/10

My soul divulged upon your page,
inked in tangible measure.
a hundred years before my name was uttered,
days before it was tied to another.

A piece of green bottle glass
smoothed by restless oceans
seed pod from the horsechestnut
that shaded summer garden
sixpence stained by christmas pudding
dated 1928
a tiny fossil set in stone
rough to the touch of fingers
old lace from grandmothers wedding dress
now stiff and yellowed parchment

Lines drawn across the silk lit sky
With a finger ink trail
Brush strokes of boundless size
This canvas stands painted still

Crimson light horizon
Dipped in yellow hues
As this muted night darkens
Peach struck clouds subdue