valentine's morning

I've escaped here to the water
To hide in the mist with the other un-lovers
I'd like to ask the Fog Families why
They take their babies out in the cold
And the magic
To sit on a blanket
Where the waves meet the shore

But I am running faster
Every heartbeat proof
That muscle still functions
If I were brave I'd come out to you
If the un-sheltered ones hadn't played their power games
If I were less encaged out here in the wide-open...
I'd come out to the rocks and listen

But I continue
I pass one who's unpacked his suitcases
All he owns
Here in the sand
"Nice sunglasses!" he says
I exhale a laugh--where was that buried?

They were heart-shaped.

i'd forgotten

The angry ones are the lovers
They still have something to fight for
They still have someplace to fight from

I stopped loving when I lost my voice
Somewhere after they called me Mean
Somewhere before I lost my mind

When the leeches were leeching
But my home was still a sheltered thing
Not this hermit-shell I know now

Until she renamed me in the dark
And I nearly dropped my tear-stained phone
And the children's voices called me back

Back to my body, shaking and afraid
Back to the garden where we all felt free
Where I sometimes remembered to smile

I heard chains breaking, on like an echo
Somewhere in the dungeon of my heart
And Someone calling me by a name I'd forgotten:

Lover.