It is in relationship that we see the exact ways that we are alone. This first poem is about the disillusionment that happens when you realize love - as you have known it so far - might not be enough.
Your Heart
When you give your
heart
You pretend it
beats
vibrant and full
of blood- You say
take this, it will be a worthy companion
to you. Then little by little the hollowness
and the cracks are
exposed
The way the thing
skips a beat.
You patch it up
Move along, nothing
to see here.
Then one day
broken crumpled
moth wings
tarpaper
daub - stick, mud
tape
The crowds gather
stand around and gawk at the thing
wondering if it
will ever fulfill its former promise.
Sometimes you wish for something less - no matter how flawed it might be. You want to know that you are separate, even from those you love.
In My Daylight
In the thick dark
of the front seat
of his dented Volvo
parked on a dry
nighttime riverbed
wrapped in Leonard Cohen’s voice
beside a man
I’ll never know
well. Talking
the kids
from the Elwha tribe
used to pull pranks
on that bridge. They would
make dummies that
looked
real and throw them
into the middle
of the narrow bridge
under front wheels,
screeching
to a halt and almost
through that guardrail
one time.
I will never read
him in the dark. It will
be over after
our first fight. In the dark
of the places he grew
up, I am not required,
to fill any holes.
