In-betweens

you know how it is

the in-betweens

the interims

the learning curvature

of wanting and needing

and unwanting some more

of missing something 

you've never known

the breaths held

the fingers crossed

the coin-tossed wishes

the wisps of thin candlestick smoke

blown out from birthday cakes

of things we thought we can't live without

and still we breathe a little better now

the sleeps, between wakes

the pause between breaks

the split second sighs

of resignation or relief

that follows the tragic comedy

of knowing the unknown

or waking to the familiar truth you've known all along

Aug 29, 2013

Short cat

she licks her wound in

small, round, clockwise

concentric circles

the scabs have dried into

cold volcanic surfaces

rugged, rusty,  ribbed and rough

a river hardening

in summer, burnt frozen

in place where lakes turn into mud

earnestly, she traces every nook

crevice, flesh on hardened flesh

wet moist tongue flicking on air-dried crust 

as if making out a letter

or tracing out a line or a quote

to make sense from all this french kissing

3:35 PM

Ants

ants have been frantic

gnawing on wet shirt sleeves

you can hardly see these scented lines

they follow, an invisible trace

they disappear on earth tone paisley sheets

silently defying gravity on tumbleweed walls

second-storey floors are no feat

when flood water drowns the moist ground

the heat fishes them out in a frenzy

of finding moisture, almost reaching the sky

one or two wards off the path in missionary search

for sugar maybe, and a congo line builds after

lying in bed, once or twice, you feel the distinctive sting

on the soft folds of your arm, scratching off the itch

only to be reddened in blistered annoyance

for something so small to cause this much sensory commotion

Sept. 08, 2013

3:09 PM