the dawn sky cracks with birdsong.
wild geese fly over in a noisy mass,
autumn spilling from their wingbeats.
you leave my side, your silhouette
disappears through the doorway
into a grey morning, one shadow
vanishing into another.
weeks will pass before i see you again.
i do the only thing i can, and go back to sleep.
winter can wake me when you return.
i woke to blood like a waterfall between my legs
and a spider newly living on the door.
all night i had dreamed you were lying beside me,
our bodies soft with sleep conjoined
the darkness thickened by our linked breath.
in the rising light of day there is only the cat
with her needs as soft as mine,
grandmother spider framed
in sunlit stitches of her own devise,
and the blood between my legs to remind me,
time passes, even in dreams.
twilight on the farm.
mind full of fragments,
heart full of echoes.
peacock like a car alarm in the dark.
love me, love me, love me, he cries.
venus shining in the shadow of the cottonwoods.
lighted windows in the dusk,
the frogridden pond creaking softly,
fire on the hearth for a cold spring night
that should be summer.
one cat by the fire curled, purrs,
love me, love me, love me.
the cry of every soft thing in the night.
you rest in a body of water
with fire cupped in your hand.
you are a waterfall, grief & change & love,
and you are present with something burning.
even at rest, your body moves.
you are alive to your own changes,
casually shedding sparks in the chill night air.
when i rise from the water,
the night is a cavern and you are turning,
you are gone, you are telling me
you love me you are telling me
you’ll see me soon. i am a waterfall
shedding sparks and your cupped fire
turns to taillights in the rising night.