Folding

All the elements fell on me
at once, but burning above all,
like an ember in my throat was
the thought of loving you.

I lost my aim and my every sense
of direction has evaporated.
I want to grasp my fate, but my body
is trapped in an automatic position.

My head rests on the edge of
a swell of the willow’s river.
She has wept her branches into
permanent drooping husks.

I met a badger by the fire
and his eye held two pupils.
One pupil was a spark and when
he blinked a star was born.

You were a star among a
wall of blackness that was cold
and you warmed me with no more
than your mere existence.

My love is small and unorganized.
This pretty little bird is dying to fly.
Even when the cat’s paws are near
I still have been the fool enough.

Now I retrieve what I so easily handed over,
and I can’t imagine feeling any more ashamed.
Am I wrong for feeling differently?
Another door comes to a close.

My Darling, the Cardinal

My darling was born at the
finest facility money could buy
to the finest people
who barely got by.

Her house’s hallway had a trail of
hairpins that stopped on her nest
of sunset delight, and her daddy
couldn’t have been prouder.

My darling danced and my darling
sang, those tunes that could get a
rocker rockin’ out on the rotting porch.
Even in a slip she out-blazed the cardinal.

Her feet tracked mud from
the garden out front and her
heart tracked sighs from the men
she gave her ruby soul to.

My darling was born from the blues
and she turned me to reds.
She dreams and I know I can soar.
Even the cardinal believes.

My darling and I know heaven
because we saw it shining from
behind the mountains as we
swung lazily from the cherry porch swing.