I watered the mushroom bed in the heat,

lifted the straw, and musty life scent rose…

I might’ve accidentally fallen

in love when…

you, remaining hidden…

Horsetails can grow through the sidewalk.

I’ve seen it…

crisp and sharp

the blankest slate

reflections from a silver plate…

spaces between the leaves

shiver past a warming breeze…

The sun sets behind my closed eyelids

Drift to sleep as the night is born…

The wind takes me farther than it used to.

Uncertainty of distance,

the measured steps of line,

as much as I’d like to visit

your home, I stay in mine…

at a distance

I can see the lights from far away

just slivers of them dancing

over that dusky hill…

I remember when stars had five points

and were scribbled, waxy yellow

with crayoned black outline.

Lean in, if you dare…

this is our dance, beneath the pines

clothed in manufactured splendor…