a silk bandana

a silk bandana
held back her hair
calmed her waves

but still i heard
the salt water rush
over slipping sand

no stars

there are no stars
in the late november sky
only a shallow gray
like a knee to the neck

that day in the cemetery
i should have pulled you close
seen the stars in your eyes
felt your lips on mine
taken all you had to give
and never looked back

that day in the cemetery

this year

this year, all I want
is the gift of your sweet lips
gently on my own

i can never be, everything

i know i can never be
everything to you
i know you need others
to surround you

sometimes even to carry you

but it still breaks me
to feel your sadness
and to see no way
to guide you through it

so instead, i’ll stand beside you
take your hand in mine
and be with you
in the lonely, long night

sediment

i am layers of sediment
you are oceans of water
we are canyons cut deep
and mountains rising high
from the very beginning
we were bound together
spirals of intimacy
tectonic to the core

somewhere east

i sent you flowers
from a cold city somewhere east
your smile in those blossoms
unfurled me
in new ways