Your Custom Text Here
The words won’t write themselves,
but the feelings spill out without limits
and puddle on the floor beneath my feet.
like a string pulled taut
and frayed in the middle,
I struggle to be comfortable with ambiguity.
do not tempt me today,
this decision fatigue of mine
can’t possibly recognize
the gifts that you might bring.
DS
Night thoughts,
like drunken flies
circling the light,
can find no purpose
or direction,
just random, panicked,
instinct.
I turn, and hear
a rustle in the woods,
my eyes snap open.
thinking not thinking —
Breathe.
Dilemmas,
like pebbles in my mouth
roll over and over;
my tongue
smoothes their contours
with relentless
consideration,
reconsidering.
Today, tomorrow
then, now, before, after,
this, that, how, which way —
when?
No answers
from the night.
Just the leaves,
whispering their lullaby
for the dreamless.
STK
they say there is safety in numbers,
that numbers are where courage thrives,
and there that shelter exists.
that the whole protects the one.
numbers;
not unlike the steady warmth of your single gaze.
the two trees that arch over the path in the woods,
the hundreds of starlings at dusk over the skies of planted fields,
these numbers.
are where my safety is found.
DS
Tenderly we hold
the shreds of lives
long past,
accounting misdemeanors
as history crumbles
between our fingers.
We are the dust
laying on the ancestral mantle —
layer upon layer,
life upon life,
accumulations of
regret.
And yet, a chancy future,
slippery as a newborn,
seeks to ever move us forward.
We clutch and grasp
in vain
to mould a sense of
certainty.
Threads of gossamer,
woven in the morning,
glimpsed, but for a moment
in the dewy light,
our briefest second
of purpose.
STK
when you run your hands through the tall grasses,
do you remember their razor sharp feel?
time casts its long shadow on things once belonged
DS
She wanders through meadows,
where the grasses grow
sweet-thick and tangle
beneath her feet.
Her toes, sink
in the moist soil.
Rivulets run through
the muddy deltas,
like tiny snakes
around her ankles.
And though the nests
from summers old
lie dormant,
within entanglements of promise —
life awaits.
STK
may you be given the strength to cultivate true attention
to the unfolding light before you;
led by your fingertips to caress the warmth upon your skin.
may you be mindful that with light comes shadow
but grace will see you through to the other side.
DS
I’ll throw for you
a tethered ring
to help you
keep your head
above
the surface.
I’ll you hold fast,
and not sink slow
to where the weeds
pull at your ankles and
the selkie’s song
seduces you
to stay too long.
I’ll cast for you
a silvered net
of glittered yarn,
knit-close to catch
your dreams in.
For I have stood
alone on shores,
afraid to grip
too tightly,
lest my fingers bleed
for wanting.
STK
i won’t know if my roots are deep enough
until the winds of change test them.
or my branches strong enough
unless the weight of snow burdens them.
so i will run my roots strong,
and my branches robust.
i will shelter the birds that build their nests in me and call me home.
i am deep enough.
i am strong enough.
DS
I hold on
in the dark,
to the memory
of the day.
I wrap myself,
cocooned
in hopeful thoughts,
protected.
Through solitude,
I hold my breath,
and wait for song
to come.
Waiting
for the nightingale,
to soar
with the lark.
STK
when do we hold on,
when do we let go-
for there is strength in both,
and fragility in both.
splitting intersections
lives go on
DS
the drapes drawn tight…. hushed.
furniture cloaked in white sheets,
like tombstones in every room.
the cobwebs and dust will soon descend.
“don’t forget your key.”
“you keep it.
i won’t need it anymore.”
DS
Let us see
what we can conjure
in the still twi light.
Witchily we find our magic,
like a shiny penny
at the bottom
of a well.
Shimmering incantations
sing in the golden solace
of the ending
of the day.
This, is our alchemy.
Of nothing
we make something —
that beats
like a newborn’s heart
in the dawn.
STK
Sal? Well…she’s kinda great.
The fate gods smiled down on me when she entered my life.
She’s generous with her heart.
She’s sunshine and fresh linens on the clothesline.
She’s that last cup of tea at night.
She’s inspirational.
She’s my friend and I love her.
Let’s see what we can do with this space, friend.
Through the process of working together on Kindred earlier this year, Dawn and I began talking regularly, sharing the pieces we were creating for the show and our motivations and inspirations for creating them.
A friendship began to emerge, born of mutual admiration, a shared aesthetic, but perhaps more importantly a generosity of spirit and sense of fun that forged a lasting connection.
We created this space to share ideas and make something together, I can’t wait to see what we do with it!
Sal