Lay me down in a bed of fern
Let the beetle crawl across my chest
and the dirt paint my back.
The ocean of sound adorns the canopy
stirring the trees and lulling my exhausted mind.
I am is now a distant story.
the reflector
Their eyes fixate on me
Well on their way,
Vulnerable, tender, insecure
Staring deeply, trying to fix themselves.
What do they see in me?
I ask myself as a woman pulls on her earrings
But I am sitting at a high top
At a busy intersection
Inside a döner kebab shop
behind reflective glass.
They see nothing past themselves
I realize as I wipe hummus off my lip.
Mt. Auburn
Together
from Pablo Neruda. Shot on a beach in California in 2019
Teachers Everywhere by Kira Casey
and a little guitar by me
The Thing Is by Ellen Bass
by Kenneth Rexroth
mind spelunking
a place to stand
I don't see things as they are
Find me something that floats alone, in stillness.
for all is pulled by the current of story.
Once, long ago, we decided this would be how we bring it with us.
The story was a way to meaning
Never asking, and yet we answer.
but we are in the river, too
and I never learned how to swim upstream.
Desire & Confusion
which doesn't mean they don't know, in their own way
a balm
covered with stars
my first poem
Circa 2000