We will dance together
and bring down the light
and in time of darkness
the birds
will sing down the dawn.

Winter Decision



I wait for summer
for forgiving

The wind neither forgets
nor knows
forgiveness

You may lie under stars but I
will touch thick green growth on trunks
where vast trees darken swamps
and in a far place swing my hammock

Banked snow
deepens beneath the eaves
I read a seed catalog

Leader
found Pandora's secret box
opened it

Next day
he sent a thousand soldier boys
to collect butterflies

Eggs already laid
larvae
have eaten the wheat

Our people
sleep in the streets
for fear
of retribution

We will dance together
and bring down the light
and in time of darkness
the birds
will sing down the dawn.

Her collection of small boxes
some quite empty
grows:
heart shaped lacquer,
a miniature of a miniature painting,
a collection of seashells under a tiny frame
a surround of exquisite
an emptiness contains no new words
a place for mini memories
She knows
her life has become a very small oasis
in a world of fearful things.

River Frog Song

As the road curved
at the base of the mountain
by the river, I leapt
leapt into the river
I lay, I lie
crystal among stones

The skin of the river frog is green
smooth
wet and smooth
cool, his splayed foot touches stone
his hands delicate
touch weightless, listening

Listening under his green skin
I felt his bones, delicate
bones, weightless against
my heaviness, wide touching
frail hands
tender, tending, green skinned
and smooth, polished
as water, in the water, by water


I lay in the river, I lay
cool
while the white read curved
past the mountain


That summer, long and hot, dead leaves
dropped into the water, the river frog
quiet, lay on my heaviness. skin
soft, his hand
growing transluscent
white bones showing, his voice
silent, heartbeats slowing


Slow, slow as the water
cold
cold, crystaline, sharp
I lay silent, and the silence
pierced the centre, the centre
broke. I lay broken
under the heaviness
under the tender bones
under bones
under the still river

Under the mountain
stone