lovers

the words are little coins
one of us still dropped

in the grimy well

we are lovers, we are hopeful

the world continues to simmer and burn

on occasion my wrists are kissed 

by somebody who has eyes like stars

what could i have done to receive such kindness?

people continue to die, and to suffer before that

now or later everybody i love hurts and heaves

there is so much that can fail in these brittle bodies

there is so much pain in these hardened hearts

i make my lover laugh but it is true

i feel too much, the great wave of feeling

knocks me over each day, i walk through

it like quicksand, weak ineffective knees,

time thickens around me and i am made

soup, i am loose, i am lost, i have flew.

the calendar flits onwards. loss stays

in the air like smog. love comes, holds me,

loves me, leaves. in the chalk-drawn world

i am still here, i am still learning, i will

learn until i am drawn white and time

eats me, leaves no bones. i will learn and learn.

kiss me, please, and let me mourn.

tip for monsoon

clove oil 

sprayed on every surface

saves objects from 

the relentless armies

of fungus and mold.

who knew the kinds

of things that grow?

little hairs of filaments

gentle dust of spores

if D sprays clove oil on 

their old watercolors,

the pigments may change.

*

two unseasonable 

april showers later,

the mulch is dry again.

but the air nearly hums

with all that held water.

this is where we will live,

in a see-through soup,

until different days arrive.

the rain is many-hoofed 

and persistent. the rain likes

to be heard, to be felt, through

the creases in your raincoat,

in the ankles of your shoes.

the rain knows you are asking

yet again: who will i be 

this monsoon? how will i love?

will it make sense, all the turns

taken in dry months? will it

make sense, the endless days

turning to dust in my fingers?

the rain is thrilled

to blur your vision again

to fill your mouth with water

if you ask too hard

and do not sit in the silence

of thunder and rain-hooves

your skin wet but finally

feeling again