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June (Waltz)
May - December, 2020

July and I'm just getting to
writing the rest of you,
my story I left in
the light of the new moon -

missing from time
turned away, trapped behind
tracing back to when someone said
it would be best to hide;
unwrap, unravel, rewind

I’m stuck in a corner and spinning
they take all and give none back
the switch preceding the snap
the path unwilling
gone down on more occasions
than I’d care to admit
split open, spilling out
for someone else's writ

and that brings us back
to the great and unconquerable past
nothing soft or sound
just the vacuum around

September and home’s burning down
and up into red clouds
that drift over mountains and valleys
to meet me on Manhattan ground
ripped from the well
we grew up in this hell
hearing lie after lie
as the ice continued to melt
that’s the trick, ain’t it
flash, redirect, redefine the border line
extract damned from divine

freezing rain keeps hitting
we give life and live none
that’s the cost of committing all
to truth distilling
but don’t tell us what to do
don’t tell us what to say
there is no other way
we bury, in grief we drown

and that brings us here
to the torn and unmendable now
nothing can grow
clear is the end that surrounds

spring and our skin touches grass
notes pass, mixing joy with the pain
the last of the tulips meet air
and our blood carries
love through our brains
hold me, fill me, spill your words
we know what may follow
it’s all growing things can do
work for the greener kind of hollow

for the sting of the air at night
and whispers of smoke in the light
looking up through leaves
your hands in mine

 

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