Somewhen and I almost knew where,
you held my still-beating heart to warm your frozen hands,
gentle as a baby bird.
Steam rose from your fingertips,
and I…
I was
closed-eyed
and breathin like infinity
and
finally
finally peaceful.
i had a dream
and i was not afraid:
front door bells
rose and fell and lifted their voices
when you walked in and
“mornin, sweetheart”
with your own
key.
i keep seein you in these land dreams i been havin,
long stacks of ancient lumber one-armed over your back,
overalled and barechested,
sweatin through knee-high grass
and layers of time.
we always drippin music,
you an me:
thick as southern louisiana summers
and gawd’s own breath
your universal heart
stops me
~ in time soft swollen and capsuled ~
when i look up from the garden
or over from the clothesline
or through the boil pot’s vaporous veil.
and in these dreams,
we always make eye contact
and never talk
~ outside those timeless sideways smiles ~
because our knowin
is enough.
…
i hear our loved and family workin this land, too,
laughin and makin music and food,
fixin and creatin needful things…
and there are more,
more of us
that i sense but
can’t
yet
see.
we are building
in these dreams…
we’re buildin so determined
~ so all together ~
we’re buildin with such Love and Intent
because the others…
lawd, the others
we’re buildin ’cause the others are already
on their way.
Directly on the other side of the canal from me,
a human form,
tiny with distance,
sports a tomato red hat and
practices fiddlin
into the golden hour.
The strings stretch leagues to reach my ears
and are
doll sounds
when they arrive.
Miniature pale hands,
stark against dark clothes,
pull and saw and bow lateral
at clavicle’s height.
When the human turns away,
I catch its shaded elbow’s
hypnotized revolutions
against houses
of split pea and turquoise,
against red metal rooflines and
titanium gingerbread.
The figure fiddles prayers to the water
as its feet are pulled along the levee,
drawn
foot by footfall
toward the River.
Moon’s almost full,
luminous in her early evenin gown.
She and Sun’s dancin together
across the room from each other
never breakin eye contact,
intense with intent in their libidinous old ceremony.
The atmosphere between em
burns with Beauty
in miracles of light and
rich subtleties of color that
a camera’s eye ain’t never gonna capture.
As I walk the levee,
I’m beckoned up by Moon
just as three cormorants
fly across her pearlescent face,
and I’m suddenly
dizzy
with Earth’s rotation:
898 miles per hour by New Orleans’ latitude and circumference.
I slump heavy and weightless to the ground,
all too conscious
of our impossible velocity,
dropped
by what I take for granted.
Blowin Mach 1 way behind,
reelin in revolutions,
I wanna know how the hell to maintain this moment’s
Awe and Wonder
all the
all the
all the time
without
puttin out a beacon
for the institution?
i found myself suddenly considering the
idea of “coming out” to one’s family,
lettin em know
y’maybe like t’get it on with people got the same goodies as you.
and i wonder…
did my friend
who only likes to fuck amputees
feel compelled to tell his mama about it?
Been doin nothin so long,
I’m pretty sure I’m done.
Got t’get myself right with
Gawd & the River,
Got t’get it right with
Earth & the Giver.
‘Cause y’can’t
Can’t have one
Can’t have a one without
the others.
