mist

to the mist:

a bank of stars

drifting under the lights

that lands, soft and wet

in my clothes

--and were they dumb

out of pride?

--or because they could only gleam

sharply?

it could be the latter--

they have come down

mute

--but they cluster around me

wetly,

          sparkling

and touch.

do not trouble the sky

you know the answer already

liar

I was a fool

selfish beyond belief--to love beyond your capacity

to reach beyond what you can grasp with a firm hand

love, especially, is a hard-eyed goddess

she appreciates, above all, expertise

I will never lose myself in you again

but will walk with you and in you

heedless and rejoicing

one more bright companion

like the sunbeams--that shoot across your edges

ha!--I will be a liar

you cannot breach the film of my eyes

I love you still

edge

floods me
              the burnt sweetness
courses
       to the tips of my fingers
    I look up
and see a different moon

silent
           the flood-lit
intersection
    and a single truck
  lumbers by
and a single
 wrapper
     wanders in
the gutter

              the wind
under my arms
             rakes
    my hair
the leaves
         rushing
   above me

I stood
      up from the table
and the bare
sidewalk, the rippled sky

the moon smokes
              the clouds
      and the ghost
shakes my veins

each step
             on the gutter

at the edge
      of the world

in me
      a tiny chasm

             the chair
pushed back
      the empty cup
falling
            onto
the table
silvered
           the moon
sharp
           and high
over the
intersection

still
              and coyote
howls, high
         above us

flickers
             between
the leaves
           dances
along the edge
       of the shadows

I see it

still
            the moon
bright
                     over the
asphalt