Lightning and Quicksand

I thought myself a girl of pirouettes and lace

You a boy of liquid tongue and muscled limbs

We leapt across the beach at midnight

Sweeping constellations of sand into the sky

Gimlet eyed moon glinting over the ocean

Ignoring two young fools fledged by kisses

 

Yet we are none of these night creatures

We’re cast from lightning and quicksand

You and I ablaze with our fierce shimmer

Blinded by the sparks we see in the other

Though nearly drowned in my clay of insecurity

Jealous of your flare, my star fades at dawn

 

We bend our marrow to earth and sky

Tangled by our presence in the firmament

Kneel beside each other yet rise alone

Me, grounded in quicksand, awaiting the flash

Your bright burst of lightning to remind me

Lace and limbs, I cannot ascend without you

 

Just a thought 65

 

Lightning image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

 

 

 

 

Plum Tree

Once a plum tree in spring, roseate petals toed on bare limbs, opens to sun,

Moth limps wet from its brittle cocoon into moonlight and raw leaf excess,

Onion swells from its torn dry shell, each layer transparent, unfurling,

Pungent odor stinging nose, swelling eyes, slimy sap burning cuts on flesh

 

Once a chick pecks sharp at marquise shell, totters hungry in noon warmth,

Trout slurps surface of jadeite pond, then glides through secret current,

Silent rainbow glitters after storm, melted gem colors, netted by clouds

Elusive, moves away from capture, away from certainty, to somber dark

 

Once evening’s sultry wind, morning’s dewy breath, vague languor

Honey from the hive, dripping sweet and gravid, orange, sage, tupelo,

Sting of the bee, startled, angry, defensive, only a brief defense,

Threat of more, to frighten, to ache, to paralyze, enough to kill

 

Once risen lovers, heated hearts, desperate for passion, fight and dance

Surety of souls meant to find each other, anywhere, everywhere, forever

Wisdom of warriors, aged, battered, gasping, marching on one leg, you and

I, winter now, crusted tears, tenuous, plum petals fallen from our fingers

 

In honor of National Poetry Month

Plum Tree image courtesy publicdomain.com