Thoreau Said It

“Not till we are lost, in other words not till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves, and realize where we are and the infinite extent of our relations.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Still getting lost
a little bit more
to find herself. Criss-
crossing Central Park
in the Ramble
passing by the Gill,
she laughs aloud
at the promise
of accidental
disappearances. Lean
into it and go
with a random choice
when the path forks. When
fear of planes
losing altitude fades
into the amplified echo
chamber of a sax
being blown
under the Glade Arch.
The sun offers some
answers, but she’d rather
have black cherry, black locust,
oaks, sycamore, and cucumber
magnolia trees camouflage
them. Rather forget
to panic this time. No
deadline surrounding this land.

Our Trespasses

Again she asks
the water
droplet on a corner
table who owns

the land. Who
owns you—precious

liquid, tiny reservoir
of truth? What’s

an embarrassment
of papers mean
in a flood? Or,
incurable thirst? I’ll mop

you up—but
I won’t buy.

Devil’s Bridge Shoal

Clay on their faces—
naked gestures
before jumping

off those cliffs
into the wild
wash. It’s not

over till our giant
returns for his rock
collection and pipe.

Cracking Up

Oceans rise
by twelve feet
by when. How to buy
time and use it
to buy more. Who

is selling those years,
months, days, hours. Minutes
available on eBay
to the highest

bidder. Too late. Childhood
memories of a shoreline
cottage won’t wash away
with its stoop. Is it really
too late?

Isometrics

Some days all I can feel is
my father’s handshake. Called a vise

grip by more than one old
beau. An addiction to finger exercises

he did while running
every morning. They kept my own

hands occupied
in the early weeks after quitting

those smokes
he hated viciously. And I still practice

them now that I have returned
to the road and to fight

back tears. No matter how many sets
I do, memories are all that’s left. And the way

they left his mind
too soon.

Non Sequitur Invasion

Born between
the UK and US
release of the Beatles’

“I Want
to Hold Your Hand,”
she never knew

life before rock
‘n’ roll. Buds on a few
trees—a week

of rain has a disturbed
purpose. She has been
loved this early

in May. Parades with gigantic
puppets have not
been a good sign. Or,

no message to read
at all. It won’t
storm tomorrow.

3D

If I could
print you
a new hand

to hold
mine, I would
still walk alone

up this hill. You would
rescue a baby
squirrel falling

from bare branches,
and the day
would become salvage.