preservation

In that former innocence
a second sun bloomed
in my heart, and I
tucked dreams
and hopes

within my small fist
a moth within-
I held it
tense,
in careful regard.

Sometimes
I would tear, slightly
a ghostly wing
having
no space
in a hand to
move:

I shook or would
startle.

And so I began
when it was night
and I could hear the
urgency silenced
day-to-day

to still squirrel away
each fold of brain, the
tender stomach
delicate bones of a toe/
all beneath my pillow
where I would remember
whenever
I could rest

and today, there
I hold my hand
in sleep, reaching
feeling
something
alive

in my hands.
Advertisement

epiphyte

We, built like river reeds

wrench the heart: holding on

who      root claws

upon rock & between crevice

like orchids hold the very air

they need/ somewhere above the jungle

where rain prefers to pass,

and must pull       pull hard

as feels unnecessary

when everyone says it should be easy;

but the air is thin

broken air.