Just off the left

Just off the left edge, or

          Uninhabitable

Let’s all pretend to be special despite this

lingering sadness that we can only live or be in one place at any time

be advised, the drama was not quite what you anticipated, nor

            was the event

on the face of it a simple matter of elements (wind, fire, water) and our need to be

            at the center of it all, untouched

My map throbs with your attempts to live or are those my attempts to articulate

 something I’ve already lost

How I want to touch, touch

How I want to take       take            how I wanted

 to put things where they belong

Over there,

when something really happens, it is slower and more plodding

            than we have imagined an emergency or an event might be

a simple gap in the ordinary, that is,

 this is inevitable; so I’m taking out all the names and all the things that happen days get shorter, less light, more darkness

more time to brood

some part of heroism is deciding when to be big and when

            to shut up

and be small

Something Light in the Morning

            or        Sign shovel and dig (the sign said) and so

                                            I did

We dream we tell the story better than it should be told

            we dream

there are questions

It’s inevitable, the wrong turn,       anger panic, frustration

maybe a bit of a shake, distraction (certainly)    for now

I raise my hand

“ahead” is “wrong” no matter

how lovely   or green    it may     appear

My hands knew before I did

for the clear path had been lost

 

We tell the story of the dream and there is always something missing

which still does not explain this ache

 

            It’s inevitable (and then)

 

You raise your hand

 

“ahead”  has been lost; “wrong” has been replaced with “hole”

 

how lovely

 

how green

 

We tell the story         the dream            and then,

it’s inevitable   We raise our hand and we are lost