Abrupt » future

the threads are weaving together

abrupt — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 02:59:00 +0000

oh, when we first met
you told me that the desert would reclaim us
and i laughed, because i didn’t believe you.
there was wind on the water then.
there were stars in the sky.

then, deep in your velvet box
you showed me the seeds
of what i would become.
and i cursed you for it.
i did not want to be chosen like that.

now the threads are weaving together
and i fear,
will it be a burial shroud
or a wedding dress?

there is work to be done, my lover
and many bodies need tending.
so i will follow you
as long as this dream
still trembles on your horizon.

Report from Cutler, Maine, October 1997

abrupt — Fri, 31 Oct 1997 02:30:21 +0000

Salt shore,
where the seaweed grows,
and the tide kneads life
slow.

Evening gulls’
squawking fades and falters,
and the gulping crows
revise their last oration.

Little mussels nestle
into curves of soft
green mud,
borrowing space
from some stones.

And a lobster laughs
and a cormorant
follows his fish
alone.

***

City, scrape, truck.
Sick surplus.
Rush return to restless wait.
Back again in nexus.

This desert, flesh
rehearsing sermons,
pockmarked shield of mirrors.

Inside, the roaring
tide is pounding, pulling,
pounding at the future.
Unless…
Unless…
Remember something
calming, mussels,
still.

prayer

abrupt — Tue, 22 Jul 1997 22:59:01 +0000

Let me be Human.
Give me the vision to proceed
and the strength to step forward
I am weak
uninspired
and the grasses of the Imagination
blow in a welcoming breeze.
Dry my brow of its sweat
let me stand erect
and know what it is that is asked.

The road stretches open
across gray, gray soil
and the weight of heaven
is a chorus
chanting gentle and relentless
in my ear
To be free
of what causes fear:
things forgotten
and rued, in darkness
nausea and itching regret.
Let me be.