Emily as a Blue Jay at First Light
I love any empty room
Emily is perched outside.
She calls
& it doesn’t matter
if she’s calling for me
because that song means
the world is still here
& Emily is speaking
to us, to all of us in the ways
we deserve. Obnoxious beauty
creates the world every day
& Emily can’t really sing,
but there we are,
with love, when before
we were asleep, settled
& breathing for nothing.
~~~
Emily as the River Other Rivers Talk About
Let’s say there
is here. That there
is one paradise
& no colonies
of paradise.
That we are
belly-full
of a beauty
that can leave
& tear through
to leave whenever
it wants. I dare you
to listen to the silence
when it stands up.
Four cardinals point
at Emily
& everything knows
she is today
& tomorrow. The sun
is too shy to avoid
her gifts.
The water is warm
for other reasons.
I am warm
for other reasons.
Time gasps at us
when she takes me
away. It’s true.
~~~
And Then I Was a Woman on a Motorcycle Repeating the Same Phrase I Did
When I Was a Man on a Train
I know I want
& I want to want
simple things,
but the bridge
is more alive
than I am.
I’m a rider.
My hands are full
of tickets.
Cacti Fur 