I Think I Misunderstood You Sandman, I Apologize You Were No Devil But Protector Throwing Your Sand In

What do they teach In beauty school? How to rearrange A dandelion to make it Worthy of being a flower?

Do you ask the waves To smooth the rocks Because they aren't Pretty enough for Social media pages?

Does a cloudy day Need a makeover? Do you wash trees? And how do you blow Dry them perfectly?

You and I stand at the Shop counter We are buying a Freshly baked blueberry pie To bring over to your Brother's home towns away

You stand patiently In your thick woolen Overcoat, in the many layers Under your violet skirt That has faded to lilac

The shopkeeper counts Our shared coins And you look at me With the warmest eyes On this blistering afternoon

You look at me so innocently In this small, warm Bakery, like looking At me could melt the winter From our hats and mittens

You say thank you to the Kind man with the Graying mustache in The coziest voice I know as if it were my own

We walk down the street Down to the train, where You will sit close Beside me, and it will Not be the pie that warms us

He gathers pennies to spend at the store, Lowering his voice, he looks down at the floor And says, “If I tell you, you won’t love me anymore.”

It’s days like these that we don’t speak As much As we used to, Instead in a language of knees weak And such As lovers do.

He counts the change but hates the word. “So many pennies,” he remarks, “it’s absurd.” He speaks so that his thoughts go unheard.

At the end of the day he has my heart Still, Always, to keep. And I would carry him if he fell apart Until We went to sleep.

We’ve stayed like this for the better part of a year And he worries as the end of December draws near That he might blow away and we won’t be here.

We are floating Through the seas Of the sky.

The gentle wind Grazes our skin And we sway, Oh, we sway.

We are flying Effortlessly Through the airwaves.

And the sun Is so bright It warms our souls And we smile, Oh, your smile.

We are radiating, Reflecting all the light That’s filling in our hearts.

The touch of your hand As we flow Leaves me breathless For a while.

We are floating, We are, Oh, we are.

And there are So many colors To your wings.

My body won't hold me There's too much of me for one, I'm more than just a face or skin Changing, never done.

I am a heart and a mind And the worlds in my head, I wasn't made by hands But sparked from fire instead.

Maybe I am energy Am I a spirit or a soul? So just being physical Is never really being whole.

Arms and legs won't cage me I am not grounded by the land, I know how it feels to fly When all I do is stand.

This goodbye is so Conflicting I am heartbroken I am torn It is so difficult To think of you Leaving my life And yet it's so easy To wish you well

Today is a gray day, endlessly cloudy One blanket across the sky The world is smaller now, with that barrier The haze shrouding the sun, the blue The earth is contained under the veil

Under the darkness of the clouds The sun does not beg for engagement We are pardoned of participation A nebula of clouds thrown over earth They say rest, you are allowed to

Ice covered ponds do not shimmer California poppies sleep in Beaches are spared their trodden sands Paint the sky gray and the world sighs Exhale, the day is small and so are we

This Is not a Love triangle Just a bent line I'm not connecting

There are cracks In the pavement Outside my window Where trees have Stretched out their Roots, like the Asphalt is simply A weighted blanket

When the garbage Trucks bounce and Thunk over those Bumps in the road I can almost hear The trees laughing

One day the wind blew All the leaves down off the trees And they were bare I saw the birds just sitting there Preening their new winter feathers Two sitting on a branch together

Their nests were empty Broken and falling down Sticks and bits all on the ground Babies all long flown away On that branch they said goodbye Now they huddle side by side

I wonder why they stick around When all the others go Maybe they just like the snow Something I will never know I watch them sleeping in that tree A little rest and finally some peace