Falling from Floating
have you ever had a dream
lasting only a second
waking in a cold sweat
wide-eyed panic
falling into something
letting go, just existing
in a moment
the feeling, so terrifying
you’re woken
by a mind, rigid
refusing to loosen
the comfortable grip
that keeps you grounded
not floating
and you can’t help but wonder
would you have fallen
if you weren’t afraid
Stomach full too soon
The sky has mooned
And you turned into much more than I assumed
There’s an owl under my lamp shade
Above the sticky phone screen I’m desperately trying to rub clean
It flies at about 6 millimeters taller than patience
A chicken uncooped in my mothers house
Tonight I saw
A cord wrapped round a bike
Without its wheels
I wonder whether the wheels or chord
Were there first
I wonder where it goes
The sky is clear except for
The wisps of orange built over the
Day, still the moon is always
Visible, always getting closer to full
I once saw a line of crows calling to
One another across the Diag, from
Downtown to the cemetery to the woods
Today, there were four
Are they here early or late?
I hope to see them all again
Filling budding branches with
Black-feather leaves
The snow melts away, comes back, melts
Away, and I’m not sure where the day went
I just know there’s still more of it
And somewhere in that time inside my room of
Half-lit string lights I’ll have to replace someday
And in those late-night walks, trying to find Orion each time
Remembering a stage formed from
Paper hyacinths and rubber chickens
And in those moments talking about
How falling forever was high school me’s heaven
And taking friends to see the sunset
I think I might be ok
Cooling chocolate and a pile of
Roses right next to symmetrical puns
Thawing snowy sugar suffused with guava
Dry branches waving in winter winds
A book of cryptids and a mycelial song
I put close to the nerves on my heart
Hoping pale moon eyes and paper ravens
Can reciprocate the joy of
Being with you
Patchwork made of moon and stars
Resting in the theatre
Music blaring in the night sky
Two voices singing, laughing
Shot in her bed by police
Her heart fizzled out from loving too much
Many times before going to bed I’ve seen her forgetting my name
I see someone else screening my calls
Answering with one-word messages before I finally find out the inevitable
I’m in the shower and she’s drowning
From her own blood, in a lake
My father is screaming, my sister is crying, and I’m making funeral arrangements
Trying to remember what the six primary seasonings were,
where the red beans and rice recipe was whether or not pattern goes with pattern
I want to record our conversations so I have messages to scroll through but I keep thinking about when I get to the end of them
When no one agrees with me
Or sees my side of things
When she finally picks up I remember
I have to stop practicing for my mother’s death
I am yours and we are dancing
we levitate on Neptune
across its frozen oceans
dancing beneath stars
that burst into jewels
clinging to your dress, twirling,
forming moons from nothing
and comets at your fingertips
you glide along the sky
so beautiful I find myself
adrift in your orbit
that pulls me whichever way
you will it
and I will find Saturn
to gift you his rings
but you deserve much more
and I will give you everything
because you give me love
like cosmic fireworks
