poetry – Page 13 – This Verse

Ring

A wedding ring wields a magical power:
it can make a woman invisible
even to herself

East

I'm not sure what to tell you
I want you to choose this tiny life
this complicated and inconvenient way 
forward

I see my own hypocrisy
and how sure I was 
not to have another
if it came to that

But I bled
and you didn't
so who am I to say
which way is East?

Say

You awake from a sound sleep
or a good enough date
with a perfectly nice person
and say to yourself:
I wasn't thinking
I wasn't feeling

You appear at my door
a little breathless
hopeful and afraid
not knowing if I can 
forgive your error

And I say

Lost

What have I lost 
but the hope
you might be
someone other
than you are?

Convince Me

I'm going to need a talking to
a good one
plenty of sweet words
soft sounds
and cold hard proof
that it is in my best interest
to love you again

All This Life

truth is always a friend
though she often stings
as she washes your wounds
applies ointment and fresh gauze
tells you to stop pushing
look where you are going
slow down and take a breath
she wants life for you
all this life

Truth

Is there a lie at the heart of your life
beating there so long you believe it?

You are afraid to look
convinced that seeing and speaking it
will be the death of you

This is true

Because once you know 
that you could be loved
you will be loved

You will never be the same

That will be the only truth you can live

First published in Visions II (Spring 2021)

Soul

The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.
Emily Dickinson

In the beginning I thought the
whispering of secrets gave soul
and depth and I should
tell you everything, always.
I didn't want to stand
on my own, so I left my days ajar
thinking you might someday ready
yourself and step up to
be with me, welcome
me into your thoughts the
way I brought you, ecstatic
into the gentle rhythm of my experience.

What I Wish

I ride home tonight
laugh-kissed and weary
after poetry with friends

There you are at my door
waiting patiently to persuade

I'm sorry I'm late, you say
It took me a lifetime to get here

Your Name

I don't remember your name
not the whole of it
just the given
and the warmth of our
two hands, holding

Everyone else slept
while we shared words
now forgotten
I have merely this trace
just two hands, holding