Fear of

Google says God
then says holes
long words
heights

being alone
fear as fear of dark figures
dark spaces
dark forests
dark hallways
dark deep water

nightmares
fear of night time
night sky
night fear of not night

and dark is
weak against
dark is not evil
dark iron sword
dark inner thighs
dark is not black
dark is useless
fear of darkness

dark isn’t a word
dark isn’t the same
does not exist

         *

Tonight I sat alone on a wooden bench,
thinking small facts. I had been there since
the sun first stressed to pink strips across the
sky. I believe we suffer between the void and
compulsion. I believe we tribal extraordinary
lives. The sun turned to vibrations and faster
ancestors. The mind was clearing.

         *

This summer I alongside I
saw desire for its lessening face. I could give over to it,
let that vision be large as creation.

From In Old Sky by Lauren Camp (Grand Canyon Conservancy, 2024). Copyright © 2024 by Lauren Camp. Reprinted with the permission of the poet.