Holding Patterns, Etcetera

some words sink instantly to the pit

of the stomach, others

take longer to settle

            I know you understand this

            you are nodding or tapping your foot along

some distances span

eternity

no, otherwise no darkness no all these facsimiles

all these turns of speech we can't grasp

all these ways of not getting anywhere

            are you still there?

all these edges that are soft in the end

all these attempts that drown

all these suffocations we pretend

don't bother us

            and yet we are dismayed

all these admissions we bypass we

all these times we begin again only to

begin again

all these numbers we have forgotten

a statement and several edges at once

all these times we extend and retract and extend and

            wait for the nostalgia

oh so quietly begin again

Holding Pattern, Encore

Language has not forsaken me language has forsaken

language and I have something in mind like a tooth

or an abrasion something I can't dance around because I can't dance

but I can point especially point vaguely over there

where I'm always missing out where I'm always missing

someday

I will no longer feel like I'm swimming inside myself