Sometimes I see us both
at the ocean shore
looking out.
You are wading further out from me
wearing your swimming trunks
and cheerful broken heart.
I want to cry out, Come Back,
and I do
cry out.
But you are gone—
an ocean between us.
Swinging prayers
like lanterns over the deep,
I hope for the light to
reach you,
for you to surface,
a Chinook
in the hook of your hands,
realizing what a catch you are.
NPM Day 24
Somehow, I’d forgotten
all my memories,
or was pretending to
like a zombie
milling about
in search
of sustenance.
So, after the funeral,
I ran.
After all the history sharing,
and others’ merry making,
I ran.
I tried to be nonchalant,
missing a few steps
on the way
down the stairs
and out the door.
It was this weird, clean
break inside me.
And how could I say it—
it was one I was happy for.
Since all my memories
weren’t roses and candy,
since more than a person had died
and my own heart
was still being stitched up
in fresh bandages,
I just wanted solace,
to turn up the stereo
in my car,
to drive through the mountains,
clouds breaking—
tossing my rings
out the window
unmarried
to the Me Too
I left behind.
For Shay’s Word Garden Word List—Save Yourself
NPM Day 17
surrounded
by magenta petunias
and my friday night lights
it’s patio-perfect in spring
my footfall
and yours
tiptoeing
past the snoring
winter wolf moon
turned pink
—and the little clink
our glasses make
to toast
the sun-drenched, fresh
summer
we’ve palmed
of our lives
For dVerse Quadrille #199: T.G.I.F.
NPM Day 15