I cannot leave
A wild thing trapped
And watch it throw itself
Against a window pane
Over and over and over
I cannot turn
And walk away
Knowing I can help
Just one small thing
In one small way
I have spent too long
Shuttling the insect
Relocating the worm
Feeding the squirrel
Holding the dying
Bearing witness
To that
One small thing
Even if it only has
Moments
Or one more day
I cannot leave
A wild thing trapped
-me
In the thick stilted air
Of this almost-August
In too many layers
I once needed to wear
My body she’s boiling
From bearing each movement
With swelter-stacked fake skins
We all want to stay there
But
It’s that time again to
Find a weak spot and tear
-me
Happiness is different now
Sitting gently on the floor
Slowly folding clothes for one
Speaking softly to the tiny soul
Who warmly sits beside me
Sharing just this task, and time
As the joy of nothing much
But mine, swaddles me so sweetly
That I weep for such simplicity
Could you have ever been
So completely still with me
-me
Painting: Wrapped in Silence, by Cheryl Bruce
when I sit I am
saturated over ex
posed never empty
-me
Photograpy by Flora Borsi
You came to me
Smoothly
In a dream soft
Unassuming
And carefully whispered
Of bolder things
To bloom
And I relieved quite
Happily replied
I know those
Purple flowers
I’ve tended them
For years in silence
-me
Concrete spinner
Like a circus cannon
Take caution
When the motion stops
The cleaning up’s
Much harder
-me
I remember love
The center of me
Sliced open
And spliced
Monstrous
Connection
Electrically warm
And willing
-me
Image by H.R. Giger
Colors
more vivid
when lids
are closed
than noticed
with my
naked eyes
the worms
of light
that wiggle
then
Reveal
my vision’s
thin disguise
-me
Painting: Worm Burning Bright in the Forest Night, Dr. Suess
I need
To feel
My teeth
Sink in
To wood
Or bone
Or some
Thing so
Porous
I can
Almost
Own
That slight
Give-in
To
Biting
Down
Of my
Canines
At once
Into
These
Human
Dreams
And bleed
All those
“Supposed
to be”
Quite
Solid
Things
-me
Painting: Love’s Shadow, by Anthony Frederick
sometimesihatemycat 