black sleep
/night
falling as black
feathers
on eyelids
and shoulders
on lips
and leggy blooms
in dark waters
my love
we sleep
unmoored
/take me
to silence
in the sea
secrets unmoored
the hunter at our back
turns home
hexxed
/curses
on the mend –
I fall
a single grain
in river rush
coming clear
/lavender
ladles twilight
into dreams –
my body holds
a sweetness in coming
clear
detour
/stairways
slanting to secret
waters
hummingbirds
nesting in my chest
this temporary island
one hut, one shepherd
one weaver, one moment's
detour on the path
home
vespers
/snow
soft in daylight
turning to hard bread
for deepening
vespers
as February's fingers
reach the talons
of eagle gods
begging to stay
a little longer
altars
/winter
words upon stone
sacrificed
to the animal
of wind
hunger's secret plant
uprooted by the master
gardener for love's
return as rain
drop by drop
passing
/birdsong
warm and lofty waking
from winter's dream –
we walked a narrow pass
and worshiped
sunken suns
now, no more
farewells or hungry
stars
light and love
cascading all the way
down
soft steam
/my nightshirt
puddles on the floor
morning is almost you
fog breath
/horizons
just beyond winter
seed heads –
fog breath tinted
with earth
still winter
/woodpecker drumming
softened in snow-melt fog
February at play
in my spring
heart
feather notes
/cardinal grace notes
missing in winter country
I meet silence and bide
oak scars
/her words
lightening scars
on oak –
is not unhappy
happiness?
Unspoiled
/after sunlight
avid eyes
fall dim –
February merits
new wits
my mouth
savors unspoiled
snow –
ears listen to hunger
satisfied
no longer
confused or cut
in half –
I am simply
unexplored
reckoning
/January
seeding all
seasons –
Love reckons
without
strain
clean edge
/moments bestowed
without syllable
or favor –
heaven doesn't billow
but slice
dream snow
/empty churches
at midnight
winter
redressing altars —
begin
pin feathers
/bearing winter
under heavy snow
fall –
suddenly young
owls hang notes
upon a hush
stay
/fake
the long goodbye
owl notes soft
overhead –
welcome home
Slow Gold
/January poets
leveraging pine
needles for peace –
we have no sunlight
to spare so send the words
in slow gold