when i wake up i just lay there and wait
for you, for you to roll toward me and
stretch out your arm so i can roll into you

and while i’m waiting, yes, sometimes
i watch you sleep, don’t be surprised,
there are songs about doing this
we played them to each other
once upon another time

and i think it’s just wondrous
the way your eyelashes shine
in the morning light, and your face
looks so peaceful and sweet

i think you’d be surprised
to know how much i really love you,
i think you’d be kinder, too

the prayer cards they give you at wakes 
pile up near the stack of mail that there’s
no point in opening – you’re 90, quit
paying the bills, quit every damn thing
you don’t want to be doing with the time
you have left. you’ve had enough
worry over money and people and time,
you’ve iced bruises and wiped tears
and shit, thanking god for every 
thankless minute before your celebration.
your heart’s been broken, but you’ve
known all the greatest kinds of love,
and there’s a luckiness there that so
few people have the chance to taste at all.… Read the rest

it’s okay to get out of bed early, you don’t have to worry anymore
about missing out on cuddles and special time together, he’s here,
and from what you can see (the photos, the driver’s license, the
clothes in the closet) you should probably believe he will stay.
don’t worry so much about being left alone, not any time soon, and
not any more than any other woman would worry about 
the man she loves walking out the door in the morning and 
not coming back through at night. don’t be scared,
just believe he is here to love you.… Read the rest

pay attention, they tell me, pay attention to the things you hear
like the birds singing, or coffee shop chatter, or crying 
and if I pay attention, they tell me, I’ll contain multitudes

multitudes of words drown me like the rising tide and
I can’t keep my head above water so the words are swallowed
and then they lift me buoyantly back to life 

there they go, floating along the waves, the words 
are boats that steer themselves and I just have to 
pay attention as they pass as if writing poetry were that easy

pay attention, they tell me… Read the rest

Where I come from the earth was turned and tilled
by my grandfather for years while he grew

apple trees, blueberry bushes, big fat purple grapes
on vines over an arbor, but there were ugly things too –

the bees that attacked when I went for an apple, and
those fat green tomato slugs he’d burn off with a blow torch.

Even then, I thought that was crazy, and I was right. Some
things were not normal, like living with them, and mom, and nana,

four generations under one roof, which gram treated like
a miracle from her Catholic god … Read the rest