Sincerely, Emily

we hugged and my heart began to burst

little pomegranate seeds popped on my skin like precious gemstones between our bellies

Actually, maybe I do

Have to let it bleed out of me

Pour good in

Let it overflow until the water runs clear

Drown myself in it for awhile

I am twenty-five

And suddenly

I am fourteen

And twelve

And seven with a scraped knee

I walk now with each of her

Together as one

Our feet atop the same stones

Warmed from the August sun

Noses twitching in unison

Hair twisting as we watch the same bee

Fly away

I am twenty five now

And suddenly

I am everything I never wanted to be

And it is so much sweeter and so much better than what I thought would happen

I am twenty five now but I am

Also sixteen

Same wind in the same hair

With the same windows rolled down

Just for a moment

Warning bells across the water I

Sailed home then planted daisies

Gifted yesterday by neighbor Ginny

Sun cast a halo on the garden

Threw my denim knees

To the earth let the rain

Soak through—sighed in relief

Thrust my bare hands under the soil

Felt the thunder yet to rumble

There’s a storm coming—thank God

Sat on the front porch

Eyed new dark clouds

I’m ready let it come

Home just in time

Trees started swaying

Sky growls softly

Felt that shit in my chest

Hail starting small

Open your sky

are blooming, I’m in love

with every little thing,

my heart cannot contain

such ecstasy.

Here, hold some of it, please.

Let me pour a bit of this

wild joy into your hands

like water cupped

from a stream,

share this sip

so I don’t drink it

all myself

and drown.

—Never have I known such unmanageable pleasure

Sea Girl Caught in Land Storm

Salt on the breeze she whips

through the bay, trees in a dance

They bend to her will

churning and churning and

churning it goes

Worn down to the nub

A cracked case of caring

About everything

This body, This earthly body

Let me live my life in the soil

my toenails will turn to bark

my hair the pale green lichen

Let my skin be soft as the moss

and move around your fingers

She evades me—

tongue tied down

in the wind

Excuse me while I pause awhile and weep in my garden, life bursting forth so beautiful in spring it breaks my heart.

Moon take me home

Silver light sing the way

Fawn stride beside me

Pick your way through apple cores

Moon I beg you lead me there

To higher hopes and clover pastures

Star studded sky

Burn holes in my bedlinens

The only altar

I worship at is that of

The earth

And my lover

Our marriage is my religion

And Gaia is the temple

To love—in the sunlight,

In the rain

dripping on skin

under the moonlight

on faces,

By the sea

with hands in hair,

Beneath the trees,

Held by the mountains

and him—