The Poetry Marathon

I am content 

To parallel play 

With you 

As we wind words 

The same way 

We once made mud pies

I am content 

To see what 

The mind

So much like mine 

And so much your own

Makes of the same material 

I am content 

To find your voice 

Echoed in my poems 

And

Mine mirrored in yours

I am content 

With any life 

Where I get to write 

Poetry 

With 

You 

–For Lily 

Strength is a word 

With echoes of defiance and war 

With a history 

Heavy 

With blood 

And the need to prove 

A call to defiance and deed 

That demands the fortitude 

To survive 

But

Were that 

The only face strength wore 

There would nothing 

Left to fight for 

Strength 

Is also 

The radical act 

Of staying soft

To build 

In the uncertain storm 

Something worth 

Living for

Strength

Is also

In leaving

To find

The green place

Were

You do more

The survive

You

Live

I walked backwards 

Down love’s path 

To meet you 

I started with cold feet 

The day I asked you to marry me

Wading in a icy stream 

Gave you my vows 

Before I ever asked the question 

Lived our first dance 

A hundred times in our living room  

Before saying the word wedding

I wove ceremony 

Into every evening 

Long before 

Invitations were sent

 I loved you in sickness and health 

Without any promises

Now  

It doesn’t 

Feel

Like news 

It is my life’s story 

And

Perhaps

A chance 

That others might see 

Just how mightily 

I loved you 

As I ascended 

This path in reverse 

And you waited 

So patiently 

To meet me 

What might happen 

If you jumped

The margins

Exceeded the lines

Let the ink

Twine

Along 

Your 

Fingers

Wind

Cursive lines

Up 

Your 

Spine

Flow 

With 

Your

Blood

Circulate

And 

Stain 

Your 

Heart

What if you 

You made

Visible 

And 

Unblushing 

Your love affair 

Of words and sound

Un      bound 

From the page

Allowed

Vibration 

And 

Vibrancy 

As they find 

F O R M

On the vessel 

Of voice 

To 

E

C

H

O

And have life

Beyond 

The ruled lines 

And fragile sheet 

Your cells 

Are an unfathomable abundance

A legacy of lives 

On branches so far reaching

Their names are lost in history’s haze

Yet, the map has not vanished

It spans the centuries 

On the spun silver helix 

Twinning and twining 

A ladder 

The generations have climbed

You are

A collection

Of star stuff and DNA

You belong 

To this

This cosmos carried in your marrow 

To this 

This inheritance tucked in the bow of your lips

To this 

This life 

I do not need your mercy 

For you do not hold the power 

To release or bind me 

I hold the means

And

I have long since

Opened the cage 

And 

Buried the keys 

Beneath the cherry tree

Where they have grown fruit

Sweet as first kisses

Sharp as outgrown love

At each harvest

Each barren season

I have forgiven myself

The dignity and foolishness

Of my human 

Pilgrimage 

To wholeness 

Cast your stones with caution

For the ripples will always move

Beyond your line of sight 

Take your steps with care 

For the tremors carry

To tender roots

Let your laughter bloom

For its waves will grace

Shores in need 

Of joy’s thunder 

In the place between forms

The fog betwixt identities

A place of malleable softness

And fluid mosaic

I release the shell

That kept me small 

That kept me safe

Extract my tender being 

Let it take 

New Shape

For there are horizons to seek

And 

They require wings  

The heart is hollow 

A hallowed hall 

Of contracting walls 

It rests in a chest 

A treasure 

Not meant to horde or hold

A living lesson 

In letting

Go 

Loss does not break it

For it is crossroads of chambers

Made of the 

Constant rhythm 

Of moments

Gone in a beat 

A verb in noun form 

The tide’s engine  

Alive

In motion

It breaks 

When it 

Goes 

still

We are made 

Of 

Meaning

Minerals

Mirroring

Of these 

We weave

Stories

Of admiration 

Of disdain

Of compassion

We see ourselves

Through 

Waters rippled surface

Glass’s wavering lines

Other’s veiled eyes

From these refractions

We gather 

Pieces 

To blend with 

Our own vision

To see 

Ourselves home

To know 

Ourselves whole