Kiss me once and softly
A kiss from years ago
And though my heart may stop or burst
I need you to be honest first
Kiss me once and tell me
One kiss, I’m sure you’ll know
And though it may just kill me
I need you to speak honestly
Is your spine set a-tingling
When you look into my eyes?
Is your soul set a-burning
With a thousand firelights?
And even if a warmth creeps up
And seeps it way right in
Are these embers, residue?
Or is this kindling, something new?
(2015)
You don’t treat me as
an intimidating thing,
all eyes and myst’ry.
You don’t treat me as
something fragile, expensive
easy to shatter.
You don’t treat me as
filler, as a solution,
or as The Problem.
I am not simply
a girl but a person, an
equal, and a friend.
(2017)
1.
Born in the dark,
Early morning of the year,
I have grown to thrive
Months down the line:
My spirit sings in
Summer and spring.
2.
My voice will croak
After the autumn rain
Soaks every fallen leaf;
Please wrap me in
That sodden shroud and
Bury me underground
So I can live in loam
And look at the dawning
White winter sky
Through ice panes.
3.
When you scrape
At the soil Mid-March,
You will find me
Rooted,
Cold,
Nearly starved.
Shake me awake
With a cupped hand
That scoops me up
And out
Into light and day
And sweetly sweeps the dirt away.
Just like that,
I can sing again.
Sucking in wind and drizzle,
I lay in sun-flooded fields of friends
And name every one:
Daffodil
Hyacinth
Daisy
Lavender
How I have missed them so,
And them me.
(2017)
Be it scrape or bruise,
We don’t get to choose what we’ll
Need some healing from.
(2017)
I don’t let just anyone into my sacred shower space
You have to be a water creature
Cool, easy, flowing, calm
You’ll have to want to wade into me
Slowly but sure-footed
Then wrap in and around and
Drench every corner
I do not take kindly to strangers
But I am kind all the same
We shower together but do not share space
You wash your body
Never drinking mine in
As I bend over backward
To catch every drop
Trying not to spill you over
And out
And away from me
I do not take kindly to those who waste my resources
But I am kind all the same
Do you not see what I am made of?
Do you not see that I am precious?
Do you not see how I shimmer when the light hits me so?
I do not take kindly to those who choose blindness
But I am kind all the same
(2017)
