Leaf

It is not sad, this invented leaf,
Because it does bend in the wind
The way daisies do in a sweet shower,
Because it stains, as it breaks
In the pressure of my thumb, my thumb;
Or rather it is invisibly sad,
Because it is invisible to the eye
And no more of an invention than a word,
This leaf, here forever, the last email
Sent by one who swore never again,
Once in the inbox, now deleted,
A whole branch full of words
That had grown, if not out of love
Or sweet, false, virtuous showers,
Out of each of our desperation to know
And to be known by one another.

Lace

Somewhere there is a place in words
Inhabited by a man described by words.
That man desires you to join him
By sharing with him your deepest words
Or even your most superficial ones
Such as ‘smart’ and ‘classy.’
You are a smart and classy woman,
Just as he is a tall and clumsy man.
Go on, he wants to know what’s next.
Say them; he will type them in.
Length of the brow—the shadowless shirt—
The white and winding cord of thought
That knits into a dog this ferrous dirt—
That bays at hours and sleeps sometimes—
But after he hits return and presses shift
To start another string of you,
You’re gone into the lettered drift—
Somewhere there is an act in time
That doesn’t end. But you’re not there.
Your words were spoken in the air.

Reinventing the Wheel

I tried to reinvent the wheel, and it was fun,
Because I did. It came out better than before,
Rounder, quicker, and with less friction.
The mistake I made was trying to reinvent you:
You came out taller and less confident,
With a shopkeeper’s eye and shiny skin.
You got me back by reinventing me,
Turning me into what I had wanted to be,
A pensive, slightly overweight woman
With a knack for arcane geography.
Will we be happy as our new selves?
I ask myself as we lean back with brandies
On a moonlit night; I think we will,
I think to myself, though I’m thinking it as you,
And you’re looking down on me as I would,
As if at any minute I might steal something,
But still not knowing what is in my mind–
A peninsula where it rains but never snows.
The wind picks up; we head inside.
We sleep in a place where we both reside.