There resides in you
A shifting filament
While you are composed of water
The filament burns sage and longing
Sometimes the current of your nature holds you back
Makes you feel tired just stepping into effort’s shoes
The filament never tires but stares
Bare eyed into the center of the humming universe
And spinning in its helium, sees what you could have been
If like others
You had caught fire instead of brine
And rising out of the ocean
Growing legs and feet to run
Naked and filled with satelite urge
Down shining shellac road
But it was not your way
You are the gentle nudge behind theatre curtain
You prefer the feel of bunched velvet and the spotlights on the other side
When young girls fought to be first
You found no competition pooling in yourself
It was as if
You had drunk your fill and
Just wanted to be free
People would say
Why doesn’t she want more?
Why doesn’t she fight for it?
They did not understand
She was made of water
There was only so long she could
Breathe air
And the heat of desired things
Steaming on the tongues of others
Before she slipped gratefully
Beneath the membrane of the world
And watched
Them clamor
And beat their chests
To get one step ahead
She was
Running out of time
For her edges evaporated
With each muse of sound
Capturing the necks of mountains
And her love knew
When she grew warm
Water could hardly contain
Her steaming rise
But against the world of noise
And clamoring souls inching for their
Fifteen minutes
She must have appeared a wilted flower
Bent at the neck
She didn’t fit with brick and mortar
Reducing days to races, tests, competitions
Her nourishment always lay in your arms
Twisting like plankton, dancing in sea spray