Suds white, foamy
I did not think them
Of import
Later, when his ire, loud
Called me back to that sink,
I only had to hear
His disappointment,
His irritation with me-
Once

Washing them away, here,
At the end of this long
Day,
So many tasks finished,
Down the drain
They dissolve.
My only thought is of
Love, and a certain lonely
Since he left us

A surface reveals only
This daily, unfinished business
It stays with me, though
Perfection;
Uneased expectation
Unsure if for me,
Or for him-
His fear
Made mine

I embrace this
Deeply held unawareness
More than he intended
Also unaware,
Then,
How doing it all the way
Always, every time
This love in diligence-
Would often leave me dirty

Their criss-cross
Pattern, even I step
Between, careful not
To squish

Save my shoes
And them
From a messy
Death

More to avoid
Karmic trouble
Now, priced
Too high

Unlike my childhood view
All those cracks,
All those days
To school, then home

Deliberate steps of
Disjointed responsibility
To save her back;
Unusual temptation

Sometimes,
Succumbing – despite
That awful price
Which never presented

But, these creatures
Of the earth,
Will not stain my soles
Because, who knows

A robin, not the first
This year or any other,
Pecks for a worm
Raises his head, looks,
Then flits, scampers,
Pecks, repeats

My son, a kindergarten contest
Who will see the first Robin
A girl, always first; best
Proclaims one morning,
Late in February
Me! I saw it

As if her sighting
Declared Spring for all
That she had procured
This year’s release
From winter’s gloom
As it naturally evolves

A question pecks, a thought flits
That robin, there in his quiet
One sighting wins?
For one likely champion?
Any robin, any sighting
To me, a win every time

Hope it is a flimsy friend
A cautioner’s tale be told
If left alone to linger,
Lies spent, forlorn, upon the ground

After the fracture
We scampered apart
So many thin, branching
Fissures chased us

To angry distances
A false safety
From the arteries
That spilled out

The pressure of a
Hot, churning heart
Erupted into a chasm
No place to jump

You danced your side
And I mine–
Pull back
Necessary cooling

A deep bravery
The search, no posse
For that path
Only found alone

All those cracks
No longer molten
But dangerous
Sharp, unforgiving

Hopscotching
Over this one
Then that,
Mirages, setbacks

Then discovery
A like gaze
Over that divide
At imperfect and flawed

No more looks down,
Or glances back
Simply across
Then the leap

For Love