blasting Fats Domino and dancing in the kitchen
boiling peppers into a tingle in the air
a cloud shaped like Italy dangles from a cloud shaped
like Europe, but Greece has melted into the blue sky
the mouths of babes cry aloud free and truthfully
the words of a woman from Australia shiver apart into meaningful gaps
a wire fence melted into threads of shadow dancing on the ground
a hammock strung between the green tree and the iron tree bows under the weight of youth
Rolando draws the lines of love as genitals glowing with fire
when all the rest of the body dims to last year’s autumn leaves
resting under trees and over grass in the spring thaw
it is not spring here, it is fall
here the colored trees bend beneath the sky and almost touch
here the Queen Anne’s Lace has clustered in brown stars that were once white
here the milkweed pod swells to bursting, bends back its lips,
its feathered dreams whispering to the wind
the stars reach out to me like old friends
they ask me why I write. to pray, I say,
to heal, to share, to remember, to forget, to save, to set free,
but mostly, I say, to pray, to pray
Rosefire Rising 