if the poem is true
then it must not be clear

it will be strange

like a spider on a plate
or a skull and a rose


because sweet words
or symmetry unavoidably lead

to illusions

of happy outcomes
you and i have been the author
have been the source

simply because we asked for nothing
in return and gave fully with
happiness to see it given

others linger on the threshold
just outside of the circle of love
feel their empty hearts

in such keen poverty
step towards and not away
you will be caught up

there nothing i can do
and everything i can do

it makes as much sense
as if something could be

like a poem dancing
in space makes sense

we all are interlinked
and separateness is a fib

the disservice i do for you
and you for me

if i save me i redeem you
printed in the same space

if you will grab these lines
like a rope to ascend

you'll meet others like you
headed up

Falling Up the Stairs at Elm Street

i fell up the stairs
at elm street

into a tiny room
atop the garage

slanted wood
like a tent

the whole house
shook

bob laughed
how do you?

what falls up
anywhere

only thinking
defies

or a kind of force
of will

or youth flinging
into age

or is it me
still falling up

a different set of
stairs now


4/2016