wyrdwind

Empty Grave

Take me to the deeper woods,

I’ve brought all that we need, not much

to be happy. I’m not fussy, I’ll dig

a latrine. Our tent’s not huge, just room

for two. Fire banked and coffee brewed.

It’s no secret, I’ll stay out here

as long as you, if you just

stay too.

I prefer this view.

I like it cold because I radiate,

I like it far because I wander,

I like you simple on a rainy day,

I like you close. My hands work wonders.

If forever did exist, I’d spend it all

just like this.

Songs and stories and mountain mist.

Soft silence. Juniper and spruce.

Gone so long they think we’ve died,

giving townsfolk a deathly fright,

until every tree be kissed with ice,

then, I suppose,

we’ll go back inside.

White Hair

At the tip of my cervical spine,

there’s a birthmark. No color.

Wouldn’t realize now, it just looks

bright. Purity isn’t about the white,

the clean. Winter came early for me,

when you move like a grim reaper, things

separate, what is weak

from what will last, know

what is real,

you cannot mask

true nature.

The purpose

of the nursery rhyme.

It helps you remember,

cradle toys from the end of life.

If you can’t teach it to a child,

you don’t understand it

yourself.

These waters.

There’s no barrier

between young and old,

fool and grown.

Every story I’ve ever told—

there’s only one ending.

Where shall we begin?

Mitochondrial

All her bones were showing

but she kept trying, heard

the promise of me. Backwards

uterus or not she would conceive.

The first thing I did was force

her to eat. I was warm,

she felt no pain in any place,

healthy weight and blossom faced.

I grew at a ferocious pace, weeks early

and I wouldn’t wait.

Didn’t feel the pushing, either.

Trouble is, we separate.

Overgrowth, gnawing cells abound,

what flew high came crashing down. Bleeds.

Now you know what expensive means.

Call it depression or withdrawals,

I was something outside of herself.

A stranger.

It’s personal. I the Other and she

a woman no longer. What passed

from mother to daughter. Bones.

Been told and told all over

at random I’m a healer,

but mirror mirror all I ever see

is Her.