bonnie veblen

4/23/16 To bear

The dates are so close together,
the windows so narrow,

4/18/16 Naming

I.

I cannot remember all of their names.
There is only this one, and this one,
and this one, and on and on.
And there is the way that the light plays
against their leaves,

12/5/15 Two salamanders

Two salamanders
dug into the mud on
the freshly rained road.
Tire tracks marking the path
of carelessness.

11/13/15 Here are the trees

Here are the trees,
all beset in lovelight.

The leaves, grown dark,
are quieting –

11/13/15 Sister Spider

A floating line cast
out into the world,
so light it floats,
adrift in the soft hush

11/13/15 Voraciousness

I cannot
help myself.

One mouthful
after another

11/12/15 Step me into your hand

Step me into your hand.
I cannot help but rush forward,
with such ferocity, such abandon
of all control.

10/12/15 Turning

Your brother and his wife, of just
a few hours, are holding each other
close on the dance floor, turning.

9/29/15 “unknown”

At my feet in the grass, two graves marked “unknown.”

We do not know the lives that have come before us.
Still, we walk through and amongst those lives and their
sweet tendrils, the vines that have unfurled from a distant seed,
which is always beyond our knowing.

8/10/15 – I am the rabbit and the hawk

I am the rabbit and the hawk,
the rising tree and the flowing water,
the orca and the great whale,
the goose and the lichen.

7/8/15 Landing in Baltimore

We are diving down through
endless layers of cloud –
the misty whites and pale
peaches against grays
and steely blues.