tin.

it's been a day and a half

since we spoke

and i sometimes go to say something,

anything,

to you.

but i'm no longer sure

because my heart is beating out

this doubt that creeps on my skin

and over my eyes

and i feel like it's got me.

so can you give me another five minutes

or so

before i call you back

on our tin can phones that i made

for us so many years ago.

be vigilant.

if you step out onto

a crust of snow

there is always a chance of breaking it and ruining

the perfect landscape,

marring it with your ugly boot prints

and the broken looking holes

where brown prairie weeds are revealed

and you will know

that you have done this

if it weren't for your stepping it would have remained

so crisp and smooth

all the way until spring

if only you had trod more carefully,

shame.

will.

will i stand

will i stay

will i have enough strong forces

for tomorrow

can i think the thoughts

that are better

can i let the awfulness of possibility

slip for a moment

to enjoy the life that is mine right now

right now

will i stand

will i stay.

caught.

certain days,

there is an incessant rhythm.

it is pounding

it is pulling

it is dragging soul

and sighs into it's vortex,

where all the colours of your intentions

mix up to muddy brown.

maze.

bright white halo masking yellow light and blue

horizons behind soft, blanketed

rooftops, crowded with winter's lace -

there is a bird sits

atop it's weighted wire

unmoving cold claws clinging.

graceful jerk of neck towards

distant crinkling branches in

this higher winter world,

heedless to the squeak of beings

below, their tread upon the ground

a topographic maze of white and brown.

study break.

you were dressed in orange

head in hand

white kitchen light glowing down

on your evening at the table

glowing down on your piano teeth

and your feather hands

and your nest of papers

you are the soundtrack to these words.

keep.

there is a kind of floating

that can be done

it can

it can

it can be done

when you let

the song

be

it will carry you

in that way

in that way

in that way like human voices do

like they do you up

and keep out empty cold