I quaver I haver
I stand stock still
I lie I lay
I still stock-stand
Time out
eyes closed
my mouth runs dry
dry run
dry eye
my feet meet land
There’s safety in numbness
then tick –
then click –
all it takes is a nudge
and now the safety’s off.
Exit pursued by a bear
H
ave you seen this woman?
Approach with caution
May become awkwardly jokey
Wanted for being
naive and suspicious
cynical and oblivious
May appear brighter in the rear-view mirror
Have you seen this woman?
Has been known to flee reality
Can be found attempting to make eye contact with buskers
Do not encourage her –
as it is she hum-sings the whole damn day
And she’s buy-ee-ing
a stay-yer-way
to hea-ven.
I see me
Look-look-looking
At live life-living.
Oh, aye, I eye
The pow!
The zing!
The living-life thing.
I cheer!
I burst!
They come in first.
But still I’m still
I sit I lay I lie
My one guilty pleasure
My wasted leisure.
That, and swearing like a sailor.
Spirea, lilac
Forsythia and chestnut
Pansy, geranium, coleus
Lambs’ ears, allum, euonymous
Flax phlox cress and sedum
Cosmos, bidens, sweet alyssum
Snapdragon, bee balm, hens-and-chicks,
Columbine, portulaca, garden pinks
Black-eyed Susan, Hollyhock
Creeping Jenny and Johnny Jump-up
Rudbeckia, lobelia, nicotania
Dianthus, obedient, impatiens:
vini vidi Vinca
Rewritten in my head every spring. Every spring of my life.
