approaching

I. dialogue.
you say clarity is a space, perhaps.
or a state.

or maybe it's what you felt today- remember what you told me?


it brushed up against you
momentarily. you turned, and
it had already gone.


II. audience.
ah, but wait. listen. listen.

i said: listen.

i got it! come closer, and we'll wait for her together.

here she is,
clarity.

III. imagination.

(i think i see it - her? it? her? i think i can imagine. i think...)


III. recognition.
clarity is a sentence that stands on its own -
warrants nothing but a nod - and provides a


flash - illumination -

which we briefly (stupendously!)seize, in one hand, while reaching,
with the other, towards the

uncertain next.

IV. sacrifice.
now. let her escape: let her escape, and watch.

the light dances, slips ahead and looks
ever dimmer.


V. quiessence.
it is that glimmer
(and that it is there, and not here)

that propels us forward.

without it, we would have no reason to read
the next line.

The end.

i knew you’d turn away.
i knew your face would end up nesting in my armpit.
i knew it’d be me watching the credits roll, and you, sobbing dry tears, saying
tell me: tell me this time, no one died.

ssshhhhh....

I.
She tells me pain is like a fretful child - it only wants to be heard
it only wants to be held

here: you try.

and i, phone clenched
prepare to withstand its whimper
while her words course through me
the air swimming round and round the room

ears stiff, i wait.

a churning motion distant - a screaming silence strident

shhh, shhh. i am here. i am here. look, my arms outstretched. look, my nerves poised.
look. look: i am here.

it squirms in its sleep, then settles. the mattress sinks under its weight.

II.
gently i set the phone back in its cradle.

looking up at a ceiling of echoes, i
imagine what i might offer

a landscape of such high-pitched pangs
but subtle trepidations on calm clear waters
disquiet floundering, unchecked uncounted
imperceptible, my impressions would be

and lost, so lost

amid urns of sorrow never never endings unscattered ashes unmourned beginnings

from this dolorous deluge - what hand could emerge?

ah, but i am here. see? see? i am here!
and while Atlas shrugs off the earth
my embrace will salvage the tides