PARCHED

We sweat.
You say,
It’ll be fun to round the canyon
separately & wave at one another from
either side so we set off from touching to inches apart then
repelling onto divergent paths
You grow
smaller the further we go

Abhorring empty space, the driest wind blows
in like an airborne rag & sops
all moisture locked up in
bottomless clouds

Muffled moans from your matted
lips speaks for you under the painted
sky. The less you say, the more
I hear how deep the chasm goes

You stand a desert monolith-
the ledge on my side straining forth to
meet again the ledge on yours yet stretching
stones can never breach the gulf
fixed between, carved by rushing
waters

My echoed words ring out, ring
out to riddle the fog in the valley below where,
lost in distance, they fade.
Even with the hollow mile between you
read my thoughts if not my lips they
clinch tightly to your walking stick and
travel onward

My hope like tumbled boulders pierces the
membrane of cliff & air, plummets, plunges,
falls to the base of the gap exploding into
red-earth fragments to litter the canyon floor with
shrapnel prayers. Empty clouds descend to mingle with uprising
dust of clay eating you, your silhouette, devouring
the ghost of you obscured & swallowed whole

I thirst.
The last lonely drop from my little canteen burrows
into the tip of my tongue and I step-by-step
continue my trudge beneath the baking sun thinking
many thoughts which all end in the truth-
I’ll need more water soon

PURPLE [the sequel]

Purple
the color of bruises
inflicted with intention
or without
pulses with heat
at the onset

But purple melts away
with time
fades to green around the edges
Healing feathers out.
yellow creeps in-
distills
into lovely
scars

Raised memories of
the purple
that once burned
so brightly
signaling
unexpected trauma
at the impact site.

Ground zero for:
chances taken,
risk calculated as worthy,
pain deemed worth receiving,
wounds welcomed into a life
Regardless
of how much
they might hurt
in the end

Purple’s flipping over
into other form
bookend expressions
Yin & Yang
balancing out the red
& the blue
in between

The two that eased
quite close
but could never
completely
disappear

The dash between
two purples
as something:
recorded in journals,
documented in photos
transcribed
on
blank paper

Details growing fuzzy
like the border
of a bruise
the farther they
venture out
from the center
of
the wound

To toss a glance back
over a shoulder
wince, cry, remember-
long for, smile, cringe-
savor, revisit, miss-
cherish

Like long-lost bruises
painted over
with
virgin skin

CORNERS

Do you only feel the closeness of me-
to me-
when I’m there to touch,
be touched?
When I leave-
turn a corner-
do I vanish, disappear
from you
altogether?

Do your thoughts wander off
to things we’ve done-
things we’ll do?
Are there ruts in your memory-
a trail of where I’ve trod-
that you return to time & again
to walk in,
to remember-
me
when I’m miles afar & away?

Do you think of:
my feel,
my sound,
my smell,
my taste?

Does a slideshow play when you close your eyes?
Recounting scenes of two characters
sharing
a common set?
Or does the screen go blank & fade to black?
Does the seat fold up behind you?
As you leave the theatre half forgetting:
most of what you saw,
half of what you felt,
the lines we spoke so well?

Do you think of me like I think of you
once my scent
on your collar
has faded?
Can I hope? Can I dream?
That when our fingertips part that
I haunt your waking moments
as the thought of you haunts mine?

Do I drift from you like clouds in the sky
over the mountains & out of your sight?
- cease to exist -
Do you write my name high enough in the sand
to avoid the lapping
waves
of the tide
that want so strongly to wash
me
away?

When I’m gone-
do you notice something missing?
Does it cause a little sting
in tender places?
Or am I merely a wispy dream
you forget upon waking-
a vague shadow of a thing
you wish you could recall?

Do I get to linger near you
once swallowed up by the hungry night
of other lives lived separately?
Or is the ghost of me forced
out of the house
until the next time I
draw near
and peek around
the corner?　

Invention: The Unhighlighter. Removes the neon glow but leaves the text when you accidentally highlight an item. ~GypsyLuc