Sky…lines

Today, I am surrounded by that
Same sky I admired a few days
Ago. Well, not same. Clouds are 
So versatile that no two days in 
A row or set apart by a few days
And a new year evoke the same
Sky. It's new and billowing in a
Breeze, although the clouds are
Stiller than my hat which blows
Off, stopping at my outstretched 
Hand. It's right to complain that
The gusts make the cold colder. 
Ah, sure, but oh my there's that
Sky!

New beginning

At dawn, the day was still
Dark as it is when daylight
Savings rings in the winter;
Skies slower to lighten so
That the light of day has
Crept up on me. I cannot
Tell you when it opened up
When it really turned into
This day, the first of a new
Year. A new year, which I 
Am slow to welcome just
As this morning's sky was 
Slow to let in light. This is
The first and usually, I like
New beginnings, a fresh 
Start. This first feels as if
It's been rotting while it's 
Waited for a big entrance.
Is it already stale, and as
Predictable as yesterday?

Truly. Deeply

This one is for Burt because I am lucky

It isn't surprising or unusual
That I love you. Everyone, if
They are lucky, loves at some
Point. Most of us crush on a
Boy in homeroom or chem.
Lab, and it might be poorly
Formed and not as mature as 
We think love should be, but
It's a start. When I found you 
I had gone beyond crushes; I 
Was old enough to know what
I wanted from life; who could 
Be my partner, friend, lover, and
Companion. I recognized you
Within my soul, at the bottom
Of my heart; you were my guy
In the way those crushes and
Excitements were not. I found 
You. It doesn’t surprise me that
I love you. It's how profoundly I 
Care that stops me in my tracks,
Melts my breath; that's unusual.

Simply put

The stranger and less familiar
The greater the pull. Unusual
Words want me to use them,
To sprinkle them over the top
Like so much sweet garnish
Over common expressions,
Expanding meanings from the
Ordinary, trivial. Meandering 
Far from what you think you're 
Saying to a novel thought on
A different trajectory. You've 
Built a tree of ideas, branches
Alive with the unexpected, the
Consequences of imaginative
Thinking opens adjacent ideas.
Strange and unfamiliar words.
Transform an idiom, so it's ass
Over teakettle with excitement.
Simply put, give it a new verve.

Shadow

A tall, sleek shadow precedes 
Me, delights me. I'm stocky and 
Short, that's my shadow, I say, 
Pleased that it walks ahead of
Me, that it introduces me to the
World. I don't question that it 
Doesn't follow as it should. You
Would expect a shadow behind,
Expect it to follow and not lead

Dawn

Objects in the half-light of
A dawning day teach me
Lessons I never sought
To learn. Lessons about
Impermanence and the 
Ways in which our eyes 
Deceive, lessons about 
Altered shapes in altered
Spaces. They show me 
How wrong I can be, and
That not everything I  see
Is right there where I think
I put it. They move, they
Change. They are not who
Or what or where I imagine
Or imagined they would be.

Losing you

Losing you as you slowly 
Lose yourself is like that
Frantic feeling when you 
Can't find your keys, you
Rummage but your breath
Has stopped, why's this
Happening? What's wrong
With me that I can't hold
Onto- it is, of course, more 
Profound than missing 
Keys or anything from this
Woman's purse, watching
Helplessly as your mind 
Wanders so far from any
Reality but the one you trip
Over and imagine, the one
That upsets or amuses you.
You are here and you are 
Lost, that's where this stops
Being like my keys which I 
Inevitably find. Losing you
Is unlike any other loss. Of
Course it's not like the keys.