The Waitress
January 19, 2012 § Leave a comment
You came home at dusk that day
and we drank outside where you told me,
When it rains, you feel like the salt in stormy seas
You said, “In the dry desert sun only the forlorn washes over me”
When we went upstairs you laid me down on
a ship floor, asked the moon to sing a song for me
and I felt the waves roll underneath as I let you wash over me
•
You planned your course and I knew I wanted to make good company
We took large barrels of spring water while we sailed at sea
months filled with kisses as heavy as oranges
•
We walked on exotic sands and
I would search far to gather wild fruit for you
But when my fingers got stuck in the brambles that day
when you saw the cut across unsteady hands,
I saw you feel a judgment had been placed on me and
I felt the beating in my throat, like a baby bird trapped of sorts
•
Back at sea, the waves rolled and roared
I said I couldn’t bear to part,
I couldn’t go to sleep without your songs
You smiled and said nothing at all,
and I could feel the beating of wings.
At night I dreamt of giant gilded cages
Of waterfalls and blood
•
You left me back at home;
you said your sea- you said, your sea-
you said- But I feel sick back on land
And I don’t know about boats or the tide
I answer your calls when I can’t ignore them
You talk about the deep and I bite my tongue
No longer wanting to tell you no one feeds me like you do
And how last night I dreamt of a thief without teeth
and drowning in concrete
The Sailor
January 19, 2012 § Leave a comment
I came home tired from work that day
and you asked to have a drink with me,
I told you, I only know how to sail the sea; I told you the dry desert sun
only washes grey on me.
You kissed me and I thought you knew.
And later upstairs, when we slept, I dreamt of India and oceans
•
I planned my course and you said, I can be good company,
You smiled in such sweetness and laughed so brightly
I thought, this girl would only bring good things to me
At night when I dreamt of storms, I also felt soft sun in me
•
We stopped at villages and you went out to gather fruit
You came back late occasionally,
I asked you to mind the turning of the tide
Least you should drown at sea,
you came back even later
I didn’t ask you anymore.
And I remember that day
You come back with the sun
only carrying unsteady hands.
•
I thought of the sea and knew why I can’t ignore its pull on me
I looked at you and smiled and said nothing at all,
but I could feel the beating of wings.
At night I dreamt of oceans, each one calling to me.
•
I sail alone and on land I ask for only what you ask of me
And if I should hear parts of your song,
It’s only when the tide turns quiet and low.
Because at night before sleep turns heavy and slow
I hear the moon moan its sad song to the sea like a prayer
Calling out like an endless beacon to me
drowning out any of your words for me
Oak tree
January 9, 2012 § Leave a comment
Occasionally though–not always, but sometimes, when the wind blows hard
and the sound of high heels on payment makes my head hurt–
(like today perhaps) the weight of my inadequacy feels crushing
Those days I would like a meadow, or a forest stream,
I would tell them my secrets and they would sit, quietly listening
giving me oxygen, not in sympathy, but soothing nontheless,
perfectly doing what they must,
and the hum of their life would continue, with or without me,
as if to say, “this will pass” because all things must pass and
“what boistorious matter, loud and consuming, can compare to the symphony of our silent song?”
And they would be right of course, my elequently silent oaks
a curved limb bending over like a comforting hand above my head
offering shelter from tomorrow, from
the desk of papers
the weight of time
the confinement of shoes
and for a perfect moment I could be large and small at once
not caring an ounce but loving as deeply as the roots underneath me