Screaming Stone

I was silent for ages
stone in the courtyard to be walked on while you doted on the flowers
Well now this stone is sprouting
petals and voice all in one

but you step anyway
never looking down for the sake of the screamer

You tell yourself that the stone has always been a stone
it will always be a stone
no need to water it
no need to touch its petals

it has never needed anything

I just didn't ask

so the miracle at your feet stays a stone
because I tried to be a flower
I tried to be more than I was
but it didn't matter

and it never will

Flying sunset

For Mom

below there are dangers
lightning sprinkling
storms tagging the earth

I ready the pitcher
wait until the sun drinks in night
then pour molten silver and gold seas onto cloud tops

ride the gilded edges into darkness
fall back and let errant winds catch you
carry you across the waves
cloak you in blue
tuck your weary heart into bed

while stars shine down.

A Farewell

Made of lists
hundreds of items
Friends
More
Less

Always holding each other up
even when we tore each other down

No stranger to starlight conversations
Mending each other's cracks
while creating others

Sometimes you were the only person who listened
Sometimes you were the only person who I hated.

We were forever
Connection forged through thousands of words
Hundreds of thousands
More

Who knew that you could reach the end of forever?
That there would be peace in 'goodbye'?

Farewell,
to the best friend that I ever had.
Welcome to the new list
of ex-best friends

Layered

Layered images
stacked together like tissue paper
who we are
we were
we will become
transparent, sliding through each other
opaque some days

the image of yesterday
different from today
different colors
highlights

The greatest of  us see them all
layered
pick the best one
bring it to the surface

let us stay in the image of what we are
show us the promise of who we could be
always remembering
that we we are layered
stacked on ourselves
like tissue paper

Stepping Stone

You see that empty garden?
Do you see that stepping stone?
the one that is broken
shining from feet that walked on top

Do you see that stout woman?
the flowers surrounded by weeds?
she is the caretaker
pulling weeds and stepping on broken stone day by day

no one knows that stone is broken
no one sees the fissure
they walk through to see the garden
to see the indian paintbrush, lilacs, lilies

They see white roses, carnations, snapdragons
they see sunlight bouncing off dewdrops
streams, spiderwebs
silver trails from snails

But no one sees the broken stone
Except You.

You came to the garden on a cloudy day
flowers drenched in fallen rain
there was no sunlight to pull out the color
just damp and cold, forcing You to hunch your shoulders

watch your step

on a day like that
Broken stones stand out

You will not tell the caretaker

You will pause, stoop down to feel the break
You will come back
You will see the stepping stone

Late Leaf

I fall
a late leaf onto crisp snow
skating across the ice
dancing on the wind

the color of flame
edged with black
capturing last colors
before the white embrace

I will not last
in this world of slush and snow
frozen, crushed

for seconds
or minutes
I exist

I fly
defying gravity
before frost takes me

Surgery

I tried surgery to get you out
Plucked you like slivers from my skin
but you were deeper

Bumps here, there
belying what lay beneath

Foreign bodies wound
so tightly in my flesh it was
hard to say where they
began and ended

I cut them out myself
burned the pieces
there was no one to do it for me

deeper still
You were in my heart

And how could I take you from there?

My heart learned to beat
around you
It could not function now on
its own