drywall

my mind is a blank prefabricated drywall piece hung crooked and the lights are not on and there is mold in the opposite corner and nobody is upstairs, nobody has been upstairs for the years since they put me where i am and then rushed out in a great hurry.  i am learning to be patient drywall; i will be such better drywall in eight years when perhaps they will come less rushing now through the doorway with its beautiful light.  i will say, "hello light," shy, and that will be the first time i have seen her in a very long time, although she has been many places in the years since that doorway closed--nearly everywhere, in fact, everywhere but prisons, dank cells, this dark blank molding piece of drywall.

march '10

young merlin

i tell them, "come, children, gather to me!
my arms are small and young, but they are strong:
their thin shadows cover and protect you all.
hail, sweet stranger, i welcome you in!
my driftwood fire is weak and dull, but warm:
its tired light will kiss your sun-baked cheeks
and dry the rainwater gathered in your coat.
see now, my raindrops, fall upon me!
my bucket-joy awaits you. overwhelm
the Earth! ride upon the wind singing songs
of clouds, who live to release in strength, grace
and death--come, children, gather unto me,"
i say. we shall huddle to the dawn.

mar '10
feb '10