The Little Sun-World

It is a gift, I know
that when you are shining
I can close my eyes & stare
into your face, feeling warmth
—somehow: even though
the void between us is a frozen vacuum.
My eyelids contain a red world
saturated with your light & heat;
I might be on a beach, or in
a deep blue sky’s new snowfall field,
the rest of my body irrelevantly cold or hot:
you become all I know.
Anyway, I don’t keep track
what happens in that little world
though it often seems more real
more meaningful than all the rest.
When I exit the portal, back on Earth
it takes a long time to adjust
and for a while everything looks very blue.

March 2020

Heat & Water

We see the pot
but it’s the heat
does the cooking;
with pots and pans
to focus, and contain.
We favor soap
but it’s the water
does the cleaning;
with suds to break
the surface tension.
But you don’t see them
heat & water, I mean
in catalogs.

March 2021

Philosophy

So, I mean
is it light or dark
good or bad
wet or dry?
Pick one. Or
I will allow even:
is it one? Or is it
more or less.
Our wet sneakers
made overlapping
ink blots on the deck
—not even; on the steps.
A simple thing to
so baffle philosophy.
Say what you like;
sometimes it just is
and there is no description.