LIV.

some shards exist in images
some in winding words
others in the sounds that stream in one ear —
and we swim along the open road.

they say i'm a creator.
i'm starting to see it.
but only to be like you, you know.

oh, sick.
sick to the stomach
sick in the mind
but it's there to be grasped
a new story, so help me
another rewriting of this humanity

a way of saying "i don't know how to love you"
a series of bicycles and sunroofs
maybe a pond and path world all to its own

save me from becoming a fellini
and help me to sleep tonight.

Fingerprints.

things make fingerprints on your heart
and i hope that never changes
those impressions you get, the feelings only a melody can explain —
your sixth sense has grown into something lovely and high above us all
in a realm we can't reach
but it's enough to catch a glimpse from time to time
you really do grasp the world, even if not with words
and i hope that never changes.

don't try to be an activist. or win a nobel prize.
just keep being the soft song in our heads
telling us we can do it.
you're the only reason i think i might have changed a life —

To My Unidentified Love Interest (insert name here)

I'm a poet. It's what I do.
So let's have a conversation.

First, to you. Unnamed. The offer stands —
"Oh, all right, stay. You've got my attention.
Oh, all my pain is bottled affection.
I see the weapons; I pulled out;
I met my match, so why am I so proud?"
Dress it up with a steady walk and a pair of blue eyes, and who can resist? —

Then, to You. Indescribable. The answer evades —
"I'm not the same kid. I grew up.
Didn't I? Or did I get stuck?"
Stargazing is like time travel.
There are places where I was a person.
But I go back and find that the edges of my heart are too far to reach at lightspeed —

I feel I am redshifting.
I think of you through the watches of the night.
Here you go, a handful of flatlined words. Courtesy of your lost nomad.

Save me.

Dialect.

(please keep writing your poems)
(as i throw tangled thoughts at this small town sky)
(i make sense of my breaths when i read them)
(you are the only one who sees over the edge of my soul)

Tender.

tender twilight.
did you know it can be dawn as well as dusk?
it is my favorite time of day.
what is your favorite time of day?

i'm sorry that sometimes i can't separate.
i am practicing.

tender shadows.
timid warmth.
old carpet.
holes in the window screen.
all your tender memories.

You are my tender love.
through it all.

You love me.

Labyrinth.

this heart's fickle.
but you know it like no other
all its walkways and avenues
its starry bridges and rushing streams
your thoughts float along its canals
your whispers along its darkest alleys
there's not a stone you can't name
there's not a step you don't love.

Breakers.

I try desperately to run through the sand
As I hold the water in the palm of my hand
Cause it's all that I have and it's all that I need
And the waves of the water mean nothing to me —

there are so many things i can do.
i can climb the tallest trees
drive to the northern lights
take photos in the rain
sleep under an eclipse
but i cannot hold this love.

the poet will never know what to do with an indescribable love.
his hands will ever be much too small.
i climb, i drive, i record, i dream —
but i reach the end and your love goes on —

all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.