Watching the sky be unsettled with evening 

My jaw’s hanging open

Quicker

Wider

To let in the light 

As the sun screams to the night

It’s grappling with trees, slipping through leaves 

Fussing at bedtime 

And staining the clouds, changing the way we see water

Sprawled in wide wonder while 

what is warm in me slips through the backs of my knees 

But I stay til the blue dusk twinkles 

with all of the same strange stories that twinkle 

Inside of me

And I rise, stiffened

but bigger, 

but lighter

Like I’m tethered by moonlight  

Kept down with pockets of pebbles and dust 

And shifted by wind 

I hold hands with heaven til the breaking day hushes my leaking eyes shut. 

2022