Poem-a-Day

Green, and green, and suddenly 
            a light trapped in a soft shell.  
                       Above the city of Jericho, 

the chickens are coming home 
            to roost. I rewrite history  
                       and keep the apple where no hand 

can reach it. Sinai because 
            your breath is fear. Pisgah  
                       because your touch is hurt.

I am scared of all that I am  
            capable of. To break a body  
                       is to know it  

for what it truly is. You say this  
            is love, so I surrender my wants  
                       at your feet. To know a body 

is to break it wide open, and I have grown  
            to love everything about nothing.  
                       Out in the wilderness, 

the guard dog is eating a thunderstorm  
            and the night’s skin is an eye  
                       sore. Damn the consequences. 

I trace the lone graph of my body  
            and study its careful intricacies. Then,  
                       like you, I lift the nothingness of me 

above my head and tip it over  
            the blade of rocks. I do not want to bury anything 
                       I do not want to bury.