Like Air

by the time you text
to tell me you are home safe
I miss you like air

Ghazal for my Wedding Ring

my ring was lost a couple days
long ones because we were at odds

searching for it became a quest
to quash a more pervasive angst

that I might be the enemy
of my own contentment and joy

and much more significantly
the source of her unhappiness

my wife, from within her own pain
absolved me as a saint wouldn't

allowing the faults at my core
to just be cracks in the timbers

of a ship she still chose to trust
a leaky deck she stood upon

as always, defying the world
the mutinous new commander

charting the course when I lose it
refusing to let the sea win

by the time I found the damned thing
she'd reminded me why I wear it:

with her the stars are undying
for she personally lights them

to carry the both of us safe
back to the home we've created

Cereal

slicing banana
to put in the cereal
recalling mornings
grandparents shared bananas
in quiet companionship

Grace

grace in her fingers
her thoughts percussing
from keyboard to screen

grace in her colors
riotous pink hair
and splotches of alabaster
adorning her limbs

grace in the moment
when the teapot drags with exhaustion
but she lifts it anyway
to pour me a cup

grace in her shoulders
which will soften beneath my lips
when the work of the day is finished

it is then I will whisper a love song
to remind her once again of my reverence
for the woman whose every movement
lays grace upon my hearth

Walking to 7 Eleven

water clinking melodically down the gutters
a truck rolls its tires on the curb, reverses and starts again
the tabby cat is absent from the neighbor's window

these things I notice
while hurtling through space
at 66,600 miles per hour

My Woman Made of Star Stuff

For Amie.

my woman made of star stuff
drops galaxies within me
where they burn and swirl in sync
with the rhythm of her step

my woman made of star stuff
catches the lamplight
in the crook of her elbow
inviting me to kiss her just there

my woman made of star stuff
wraps her lanky limbs
around my pudgy frame
and makes me beautiful

my woman made of star stuff
refuses, REFUSES to watch movies
in anything but their original format
going pink with passion explaining this

my woman made of star stuff
weeps with heartbreak
and honors me by letting me comfort her
when life flops to the floor in tatters

my woman made of star stuff
moves with sweet defiance
through a world of hostility
rather than hide in safety

my woman made of star stuff
drops galaxies within me
where they burn and swirl
and etch her name
into the fabric of my space
the breath of my time

On Being Depressed

living a full life anyway
means knowing that when I love
I'll sometimes feel like dying
but opening my heart nonetheless

living a full life anyway
means dragging myself through inertia
just to get showered and dressed
and then putting on lipstick, goddammit

living a full life anyway
means sometimes being the jackass
who took on very little
but found it too much and bails out

living a full life anyway
means sleeping in my car some nights
because climbing the stairs to the apartment is bullshit
after my daily energy has run dry

living a full life anyway
means needing others
in a deeply exposing way
and feeling unworthy of their help

living a full life anyway
means sitting in meditation
not for tranquility
but for survival

living a full life anyway
means taking it personally
every time a friend or stranger
dies of the same disease

living a full life anyway
means knowing this may kill me
but deciding to fight hard
with teeth bared in defiance

living a full life anyway
means always fearing
that I've built a house of cards
that will topple as it's done before

living a full life anyway
means decorating those cards while I have them
placing them with care
and screaming into the wind
"Come fuck with me. I'm ready."