nothing
is
as
it
should
be

why
should
it
?

leather jar

you were too wild for this living
a tumbling set of limbs among the weeds

you let them see too clearly
that inferno burning foolishly

with steel arms they handled
hastily your paper body, glass sheath

through my open window
you came silent, yearned to breathe

i realized your desolate wild
was a shelter for a fragile being

stoneheart

emblazoned on my chest
a stone
heavy like a son
who caught a cold
and in agony, died

i carried it bold
a blue passion
no one queried
i may need a hand

over grey mountains
and echoey valleys
it became my ally

my beloved pebble
kept the silence
& made me weep

when i was born

when i was born is an unofficial date
my mother said it was time to harvest
and there i was crying at her breast

so when i count the stars
i am a sagittarius, capricorn, and aquarius
for good measure

the facets of a garnet

my mother is like an earth gem
exquisite when you peer

fire on the surface
a scorched stone
though some think not as pretty

as a diamond worth 50

but the jeweler knows
this gem is like the found shell of a delighted hermit