More Me

I never know
if you're watching
like last week
when you walked down the hall
I heard your foot fall
but never felt you there
at all.
1992

Getting through it
like a wall
going upwards
from the fall
taller
stronger
like a tree
my strength
will be
the end of me.
6-9-92

Spaces
in the mausoleum
everything I want to say
cracks are never big enough
for all the words I throw away.
12-4-93

I stole your rings
when you were lying still
and put them on my pulsing hands
and left you there
a memory
early in my robbery
took the pictures off the wall
your pillow
your crystal
nothing at all.
5-10-96

Leaf
extends its hand
elephant ear unfurls
all moist
and young
and green
smiling at the infant rose
her thorns like fur
sticky and limp
no sin
or pain
beneath the ear
if it should rain.
6-9-92

Watching the sea
people run away
from her skirts
as they fly about
her hem coming undone
dancing like a gypsy.
7-8-94

Youth is fleeting;
the coffee drinking
lasts forever.
7-21-94

Alone in the dark
with silence
and you
and everything they taught me in Sunday school
what can I say
but the same thing as yesterday
are you frustrated
with all the hail Marys
am I forgiven
for not being Catholic
or Baptist
or Hindu
what have you
in this room
the fain glow
where do my hands go
where do the words go
up
or
down
or
by my side
and don't you know
I don't have time
for every relative
that died
or every soul
in need of you
or anything I have to do
instead
I'm here
under the covers
reflecting on the day
what I said
what I did
and what I'm not
without you.
3-11-94

So they go
heads high on their shoulders
years in their ears
someone saying
they can
with wood and fern
earth's oil on them
sinews aching
sparkle into the sea
returning to self.
9-8-93

I know
I am small
and that
we are here
and gone
part of the
consummate Psalm.
11-9-90