‘Morsque ei somno similis est’

such a dream I saw last night

such a dream

you were with me and he was driving

our car all full of friends and our lives

just a little car, a Civic maybe, once orange

but you couldn’t tell too well anymore

the light of the desert was relaxed, near sunset

orange/yellow/pink/dark blue, towards the two horizons

at 90 mph we talked about us

our families, our names such as they are

and such as they were

your hair flew intermittently from the wind

that slipped in from a half-open backseat window

blonde strands and black and brown strands

who knows how many hours it was,

it was a dream, after all

but we knew each other, and loved each other a little bit

and then we stopped to drop me off in Vegas

on some bus platform. Concrete, dirty,

no shadows just bright lights neon and yellow, red

I stepped out and you came around to say bye to me

and you, well, then you held me, pushed me back against the car

you kissed me, and I returned it and held you,

and locked there together

we took our part in the eternal return of all things

the metamorphosis of water to human to dust,

of love to loss, of all things, and I was so happy

there entangled

I told you how I met you, really where I’d seen you

some show I like where you showed me

that I could be me, even though it’s hard

I laughed about how silly it seemed,

and cried and could barely speak while I cried

I couldn’t believe it, which was maybe for the best

it was a dream, after all

but, you know, if death is like that sleep

I won’t be so upset about dying when I go

Something’s about to burst

It could be the rain, slow and steady this month for days

It could be the leaves, come out to gorge themselves on sun rays

It could be my body

For it will flower this spring,

it will sprout like the leaves and spout like the rain

It will glow like the sunburst of the first warm day

Now I’ll have renewal with a pill,

Renewal after the chill of early April

It will creep like the vines as it grows

And receive the birdsong of Spring

Unlike these natural things things long since gone and renewed

It will for the first time be renewed

Like the clacks of doors it is, and the whispered footsteps that you hear

And speculate about, and you can’t know

Who’s coming or going from your house until you’ve seen them

I will partake of spring

Sunflowers for eyes

My body of trunk and grass

My breasts turfy mounds that grow

Hands that smell like lilacs and daffodils

For the first time the earth’s body will be like my body

Open the cabinets, shake off the dust that settled on you at birth

Hail to spring