In a brown grocery bag at the back of a closet behind the vacuum cleaner, I find a folder of poems dating back to this time.

 

 

EMBRACE

There is a tree

with a gnarled root

that I embraced in summer.

Close against its breast

I heard the miniature sounds of life,

the tread of ants,

the rustling caterpillars…

And the sunshine seeped into my skin.

Gazing on my bare body,

I saw golden hairs glinting

on the fair swelling hills,

in the gentle valleys.

And I lay down among the leaves

while the wind blew over.

But time passed

and the day grew cold.

Then I saw how the secretive dark earth

had crept around me,

how the leaves lay decaying between my limbs.

I heard the worms whisper

in passing beneath me,

where I lay shivering in the shadows

while the wind blew over.

 

 

UNSEEN

 

Sunny days and breezy nights

on a windswept deck

of faded white

and the taste of sand.

 

Flying fishes and the crash of waves,

the shadowy beach

so smooth and bare,

like a girl’s cool belly

where the wandering tide has been

 

When nights are warm

I stroll along the sea

among the looming caverns

and sound and spray.

 

One evening I’ll dissolve

unseen into the shadows,

leaving only moonlight

and the incurious stars.