fall in love with me

as much as you need

as little as you want

if it proves anything

about why we carry on

my grandmother still whispers

secrets of dust and clay

how will any soil be fertile again

when she is gone?

The Sea Instead

what's that song

where a lover begs the moon to pull her away

rather than admit to the man in front of her

she has fallen out of love?

how does it go - when the moon drags her

into the sea instead?

I'm no coward,

But tonight my eyes met the moon,

When I decided to feel everything,

Instead of one thing,

With my lover in front of me.

Woman After All

as ambivalent as I may be about this

perhaps I should be a woman after all

if only

because I have learned the ways of

lamentations

please.

 please.

please,

fall in love.

find her.

find her who can love you

in the disquiet madness of every. day.

I can only love you when

I writhe from my harness.

only those high holy days when

I am least tame, most sane. 

she may forbid me from

touching you ever. again.

it is her right,

I bow, madame. 

but tell her.

you tell her. 

when we talk

ALL OF the oxygen in your lungs belongs

to me.

AND I

to you. 

a sacrament not deserved but

needed,

needed.

pts

 the letters of my name

confer amongst themselves

quietly, at first

deciding how best

to rearrange

it is time

I will never be the same

and now

there must

be proof

which vowel should glide

to show the path of grief

which consonants can stand

shoulder to shoulder

fricative sentinels

of despair

the letters, jostle, louder, zealous

to make me choke

on my new name

North

sun over right shoulder

tread north

water calls

sun over left shoulder

stop where you are

night approaches

tomorrow

the black snake

greets you

sun behind back

water beneath foot