for Nathan Ames Let dreams sleep on your hot pillow. Let words rest in your hot mouth. Let this day surround your stone bench. Let it sift like cigarette ash into fresh cut grass. Let it rise like smoke and hang below The dogwood's heart shaped leaves Where you sit in the shade. Forgive three in the morning. Forgive the airless room, the speechless fear Balanced in corner cobwebs watching For you to close your eyes. Forget what can't be saved. Forget the bleeding face on the pavement. Forget the blue baby blanket. Forget her dark hair under bright lights. Think only of the lightning-split tree we love, How slowly, how surely, It healed.

Next >>>