Offering other-wise

At night

I did not know love

in darkness,

as if sleep-walking and dream-

making could be seen

with a naked eye.

I remember warmth

on my bare skin,

raw at sunrise 

near the hibiscus

holding its dew 

until it too 

opened

when the suns first 

rising rays 

touched its clasped red buds.

The grey-brown finches, twenty-four

or more knew just when 

to join around the fire

of a new day,

swarming in sync

into the tangled branches 

consuming this light

that pried us open.

I remembered then,

when this dawn rose

with my presence long gone

a self perched 

outside

consuming the same sun

and sharing the infinite moment

of opening

to love. 

Artwork (woodblock) by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), 'Hibiscus and sparrow" c. 1830 in Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Name-less

 

A place holder,

beginning with an idea

called Someone.

A word

dear

changes to another

fondness

becomes

a title, a role, given

to the someone, the anyone

shared-

until the job, the role, the position

changes.

And you have become someone,

the only one

you never knew-

until now,

meeting yourself

more than halfway

to being, have become, a place-

holder of names

you will never

go by.

Painting by Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), 'Young mother sewing', in Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Time drop

This morning

behind charred clouds

the moon sank 

as if weighted by 

its alabaster center

yet holding

light,

becoming full

bodied between

plumes of thick night.

Time brings on vertigo.

The past smells of soot,

the smoke dissipates 

as soon as it appears

now 

the ashes of what was once

solid

touch smears what has 

dis-appeared.

Imagining the days to come

are dreams,

the haze and glow of a child 

in wonder,

hoping for a pony

afraid of the horse

it will be-come. 

Now, like water the falls

in sprinkles

touching my cheeks,

the temperature adjusts

to the soul, a heart

that is cold can hold

now,

clinging to ice

that melts into the ever

present stream

of being 

here. 

Painting by Wilhelm Ferdinand Xylander, c. 1884 in Skagens Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Pres(s)her

All Things fracture where

fragile pressure placed

care-fully

just so

we know

Better

held in a place

of mending.

Painting by Harry Willson Watrous, 'The broken vase' c. 1900 in Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Watch-ing

 

To understand

and more -feeling

what life is

within

by prying off 

the transparent face

what is sacred or

true

we can hold

hands

while causing them

to cease 

counting 

measuring deeper-

still

the gears moving

as does the heartbeat

outside the chest

pushed on

by the next,

by the last

place 

held

until loose 

screws

tell no time

has passed,

the past 

is going to come

On the dead man's wrist

the watch stops

telling

a second time.

Image taken October 22 2016 Description; Exhibit in the Karl Gebhardt Horological Collection (Uhrenmuseum Karl Gebhardt), Gewerbemuseum - Nuremberg, Germany. As a utilitarian object, this exhibit is NOT subject to copyright laws. Instead it is subject to Industrial Design Rights; see Industrial Design Right for more information. If this object was ever covered by a design patent, that patent has expired, and thus this image is in the public domain.

Number crunching

 

In America

     aka Land of the Free (Will)

     aka Incarceration Nation

3 women are murdered every day

by their Spouse aka Partner

or significant Other.

Is it significant enough to know

that it takes 7 attempts

before a woman actually leaves

an abusive man?

When attempting

to spot a Psychopath,

it is estimated

that 1 in 20 people that cross our path

are just that.

Spots are not the same as Stripes,

prison uniform or hives.

A zebra is black, not white

despite seeming either or-

Predators need prey.

I prayed to escape,

to be Free

and became a prisoner

of debt.

He gave and gave me

his imaginary numbers

his future faking real self-

sabotage.

The total

loss is incalculable

in Time 

rounded up to zero

accountability,

divided by One, alone

is still nothing,

which is something

I figured out 

the word problems

were rhetorical,

literal, not figurative.

I live with the remainders

eating decimal points...

crunching

numbers 

are man-made

the bottom line, I made it equal 

                   to Life.

Image credit Unlisted author(s) c. 120-1929, captioned 'Third (3rd) year students at a girls' school during the 1920's, that was located in the Tonkinese capital city of Hanoi, Nguyễn Dynasty, French Indo-China.'  in Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Measure up

Degrees like minutes

momentarily we see

gathering thin air.

Painting by John Constable, 'Study of a cloud sky', c. 1825, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.