Along the Hudson

I drive all the way to Poughkeepsie to take the train down into New York

Even through it’s a full hour faster to take the line that runs from white plains

Because the train from Poughkeepsie hugs the Hudson River

I get onto the train and I make sure to sit on the river side

And although I have hours of homework to do

I cannot bear to look away from the river

Shining in the first sunny day of springtime

Along the river I look for birds

I see migrating canada geese in synchronized Vs

Finally returning to this land as the sunlight soaks into the rocky earth

I see scraggly crows joking from the tree tops and power lines,

This train full of people is the finest joke they’ve seen in years and god knows, they needed a good laugh

There’s one hawk

Too proud for the bent crooked maple beneath it, I know she is looking for opportunity,

Her hard eyes and dirty feathers hint at a pain I know she’ll never tell me

But she is sure to tell me about the beauty and power of her wings and the way they move even the air to her will.

On the train I see the rolling hills of the hudson valley.

I know the giant who lived in peace with the Haudenosaunee people

Who tread lightly across her back

I see her strong shoulders and I sense the strength of her legs

I am awed by the curve of her belly into the soft green-ness of her shores

And I weep with her that we all forgot her tremendous beauty

And in this way I too am the Hudson River.

Along the river I count every single bud

On every single tip of every single branch of every single tree

Birch, maple, oak, pine, beech, aspen, and poplar

They all promise:

“Springtime”

Whisper:

“Rebirth, life”

Each bud is a friend and lover

I cannot wait to meet each individual leaf.

I’m particularly fond of the red maples in their

Pink bundles, turning the sky and hillsides a cheery red.

I sit and watch the river go by and I watch the springtime start

And I feel the tides pull at my chest.

I would drive countless hours for this.

I universe you

Dedicated to Andre Santana for his poem "I universe you"

I looked for the stars in your eyes

Because they told me I could follow your Polaris to find my truest North.

So I gazed deep and

Fell 

Hard. 

I found countless constellations in technicolor  rainbow.

I found nebulas of celestial creations

And supergiant deaths of unparalleled gravity.

I found the speed of light and 

I understood the background electric magnetic radiation

And traced it back to the beginning of all time and light and heat and energy

The big bang. 

But I think they forgot to mention that there's no sound in space.

They forgot to mention the way stars would warp gravity

And twist spacetime around your heavenly body.

I forgot to calculate drag from my irregular shapes

And I struggled to make sense of Newton's third law:

For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction.

You're space was just too big,

Too alien

For me to find my bearings. 

I tried to make sense of the universe in you

But now I'm just floating

Alone

In the dark.

Body Series 11

The acoustic guitar of my body reverberates with remembrance
And longing for your clever hands
And the way they move up and down my strings
Tuned to pitch for comfort, desire, and the softness of my lips
In chords that spelled out the things
We couldn't say with our tongues.

I miss making music with you.

Have you seen the moon tonight?

The moon is loneliest when she is full
I know this because she whispered this through my window on a bitterly cold February night
I might not have heard her except for the snow
Which murmured 'hush' and 'listen'
When the crows and chickadees tried to sing their sorrows into the almost silence

Sometimes the moon runs out of tears
She has cried all her tears and her pale face can't bring herself to hold this profound
Grief any longer.
She has held it day and night,
Seen and hidden as she traversed the sharp blue sky,
So that it is too large even for her gravity.
It falls away from her and she is left even more lonely in the cold air.