Dry (journey)

Out from danger, into fear

into the certainty only of

unending golden-dry waves of sand

washing up to the edges of the sky

in barren silent mimicry

of the sea

into the certainty that every tear

is swallowed

kicked back dry in the throat of the desert

as if it never existed

as if it evaporated

split into component parts of hydrogen,

oxygen,

disbanded into air

before touching the ground.

 

I am disbanded

welds too weak to hold me together

skeleton scattered

across the desert floor

bleaching in the sun

cartilage capsules melting into dust

dis jointed

dis integrated

                             dry.

Bright thread

In memory I am touching you

although we did not touch.

It is not factual recording,

reporting, that spools back to the

place of our meeting, but a

shinier cloth, shot through with

threads of desire.

 

If there weren’t such an ache,

such a dark place in longing,

I might wind myself full of that

too-heavy emptiness. Instead

I hold still and let it shoot through

me in silvery lines,

through and out in every direction.

Morning rush

against a stranger; wrist
pressed tight to the scar on his arm
as a lover,
fellow prisoner

Mild and wary

All winter it has refused
to turn cold, has stayed
an unnatural middling temperature
not spring, not fall
each unexpected clement day
welcomed, enjoyed, clutched
with the grip of longing so strong
it could only come from
certain loss.

Under the pleasure of
going bareheaded, coats open
is foreboding, growing
each day.

In this unsettling warmth
I can’t help myself making
these pilgrimages to nowhere
mind always expectant, set on
arrival, restoration, journey’s end.

Never mind that he has forgotten my name.

Alicante

The next day I took the train down the coast
A little further into the sun
Alone on a morning that felt cold
Why, when I remember, does it feel cold?
There was sun that day and a bright wind
I stood a long time under its whip
Mountain, sky, the cold sparkle of the sea below
Subjugated unequally to its power
Higher up the brute force unhidden
Descending, ducking under its bite
I found again that I could breathe