the universe within me

star-filled

and dream-spent

cusps and seafarers

and he is there

waiting in the firmament

casting his net

gathering my storied mystery

offering me up

another heavenly body

to his captain,

my captain

what is she to do

with her soft, attenuated

poetic self

her home a prison

her work a staggering bore

her world in a state of sensual soul shutdown

perhaps

perhaps set her mind otherwhere

a place more receptive to her than here

a place of wing and song

where the quick and wild-hearted mingle

in the half-light of creation

today i am

thinking that my life is otherwhere

the light setting

a world silhouetted

warm wind blowing through open windows

road and birds singing

as i aim for a landscape

without hooks or swithchbacks

one that only runs forward

in which the light

will only ever spark ahead

a rose is a rose is a woman

or, rather

this woman

soft, rounded, knowing

and when joyful

glowing a warm, heady scent

when not

will thorn a man

and ground him

cultivate and breathe

and bloom around

and within him

she likes the feel of it in her hand

smooth

and cool

in the shape of an egg

only heavier

light-catching

and dream-carrying

from the sea

of the universe

now hers

and gathering heat

today I am

swinging into a 7 am sun

i am intrigued

supple

and watching for webs

left by giants

today i am

godless but

full of god