COMPASSION
When walking with memory
go barefoot. Try
not to step
where the earth hurts.
A name mispronounced
can fell a tree.
Remember her soft first voice
before its weight leant on your arm.
Some are forgotten. We
are forgetful. The
ones we leave behind
watch us with startled eyes.
AUTUMNAL
August scrap
to be cleared –
dead spiderwebs,
old mortgages.
Autumn is still a haze
settling in the eyes,
a step away. A friend
sends me a packet
of tiny fox teeth. I own
this ghostly creature now –
I run and hide.
On quiet nights
the stars know where I am.
BREATH
The full corn moon, then
first cool day of fall,
grey sky, quiet rain.
Something I forgot to say
or don’t remember saying
taps at the window
asking
why no one comes
to let it in.
All the ferocity of history
is that one quiet touch
feathered to near-silence.
The burden is, listening
long after the name has gone
your ear was home to.
When walking with memory
go barefoot. Try
not to step
where the earth hurts.
A name mispronounced
can fell a tree.
Remember her soft first voice
before its weight leant on your arm.
Some are forgotten. We
are forgetful. The
ones we leave behind
watch us with startled eyes.
AUTUMNAL
August scrap
to be cleared –
dead spiderwebs,
old mortgages.
Autumn is still a haze
settling in the eyes,
a step away. A friend
sends me a packet
of tiny fox teeth. I own
this ghostly creature now –
I run and hide.
On quiet nights
the stars know where I am.
BREATH
The full corn moon, then
first cool day of fall,
grey sky, quiet rain.
Something I forgot to say
or don’t remember saying
taps at the window
asking
why no one comes
to let it in.
All the ferocity of history
is that one quiet touch
feathered to near-silence.
The burden is, listening
long after the name has gone
your ear was home to.