poetry

House Rock Valley Sunset

House Rock Valley Sunset

the last rays of sun fire the sky
and one son announces
he has a headache
and a runny nose

I help casually
without saying what I’m thinking:
is this our last pre-Covid-life sunset
and, if so,
will it take someone we love down

or

is this our last pre-Covid-life sunset
and, if so,
will it wash over us in an easy wave –
a bit of headache here
a scratchy throat there

will it leave us shaking our heads
at our years of precautions
friendships lost for nothing
so much restraint for so little cause

or at our reckless last week
unmasked with the masses
at the Grand Canyon
ears filled with other languages
noses filled with who knows what

but maybe
it’s just our last Arizona sunset til next year
unremarkable except for its normalcy
unworthy of this account

poetry

staying away

staying away

as long as we don’t meet
I’ll know it’s not my fault
(anything that might happen)
and how could I live
with having harmed you?

we all say these words
to everyone now
stay alone for all of you,
our loves who we most long
to wrap our arms around

to share breath together
(the Māori know)
makes us most alive
but I can’t risk
robbing you of yours

so we’ll stay alone in our little
forced-air windows
saying hello through flickering screens
where we can’t smell spring
together

poetry

symptomatic vocabulary

symptomatic vocabulary

blue sky sprites
words that would have given me hope
four years ago
my body’s white blood cells
pulling out all the stops
working to bring me right

but without those words
my vision was clouded
another bit of normal
perhaps forever gone
grey drifts of dots
descending slowly
every time I blinked

blue sky sprites
if only someone had given me
these three words to hold on to
a whole new way of seeing
this change that typhus wrought
I would have worried a little less
believed in magic a little more

poetry

ceding control

ceding control

illness imposes humility
the mortification of being reduced to
one’s bodily functions
malfunctioning
in public

unconcerned with politeness
the body has its way with one
does all manner of offensive things
and past the point of social graces
we surrender without shame
relieved by mere survival

poetry

ice: traveler’s temptation

ice: traveler’s temptation

the slick angular cubes and prisms
beg a tongue to lick and linger
to feel the polar opposite
of oppressive equatorial heat
thick with humidity, deferral, languor

don’t think about the risk
the bubble-studded beauties plead

and we weak temperate beings
succumb to their promise of cold
berak-berak be damned

poetry

headcold fog

headcold fog

red light
dripping nose
no connections
sleep-starved
to bed