We are planetary beings You, a large gas giant Me, one of many Moons in orbit Holding all force Against gravity Between us Or else be plunged Into a remote desert A mere scar upon Your landscape Slow disappearing Shifting sands of time No home to call Mine
Altitude enlivens Yet fear of falling Thin air breathlessness Is what I'm feeling Upon a happenstance Of sauntering past All the minutiae Of words, stories Desires burning Within you Shared with my ears But once in time Rose in my core So now I explore The great mountain Of remembering What we were
We crossed the bridge Going different ways Off on our own Adventures That we crossed paths Sits with me A trickling stream Of memories and imagery Floating away Lightly, upon fallen leaves
Pack it all up Last year's shards Like an antique Japanese ceramic Put it in a box Under the bed Start afresh Forming with hands Glaze coated smile Showing heart All is well Strike gold Repair cracked Seams of old
In the lee of Summer Solstice Tell oneself to breathe In and out repeatedly No more holding on To each one The days are ticking down again Walk abreast the self-assured waves Kissing sun on white speckled canvas Laid bare for once Turn around People multiply in the wake Rubbery tops of jelly fish Bounce off finger tips Salty drink for skin Slips soft around Tender clefts of limbs Hopefully loved Sun kiss, towel hug Me and my own company Thinking upon Just once The one presiding over The bay upon balcony Head dipped in serenity Some adventure in there Waiting to come out
I barely remember the wall coming down Though tender renowned Perestroika and glasnost My Minsk pen pal Whom I nearly visited If not for that iron curtain A downed air plane VHS player was their request For duty free on the plane From a 10 year old Broken wall boundaries Parenting – Though missed a trip To America With my swim club Too young, they guffawed Knotts Berry Farm Apparently more dangerous than Newly formed USSR.
Eons ago it seems One night, two phones Like bricks, dropped On the grass Beside the swings Siren in me called To the depths of soul Blackest ink of night On accused innocent shore Marieville esplanade Yachts silent witness Lights in trees Pulled back to reality Grounded me with roots Hundred years deep A semblance of friendship No matter how keen Held the dear life Within me
So opposed to prose poetry Nonetheless, worthy of attention Shall I mention? Many moments of recollection A single scarlet bloom Growing unseasonally cool Garden bed Across the way, down vale Over ridge Nestled in sweet Cove Treasures behold Peppermint gums overhead Cacophony of parrots inhabit Colonial-aged gums Too wide to embrace Nigh on fifteen years Since the first bloom begun A mere bud Swaying to the tune of her own song Now grown, pruned, renewed How wonderful to recall Glimpses of past seasons Of years between us Now the breadth of which Becomes relatively small What say you to celebrating One more year gone? Until our blooming is done Rose hip tea, anyone?