30/30- #1: Good Earth

this month is national poetry and writing month. 30 poems. 30 days. #1

She is all things wind.

Laughs the way one
Does with banjo strings
Tangled in their ribcage,

Good earth stained to
The inside of their gums.

Walked out on church
The first time she saw a

Pastor preach from the pulpit
Instead of the confessional

That was the first time
She knew men could
Rewrite God, it
Would not be the last.

Wonders how to oil
The machine in her.

She has more human in
Her eyes than I have known
In a thousand lifetimes

I have known a thousand lifetimes.
But I only remember a few.

In one
I grew up carving
Love letters into
Stop signs. Ohio
You were so forgiving
In ways my heart
Has yet to learn how to.

We are
Both still learning
How to
Forgive ourselves.

But some days rain is all we have.

Some days life gets far too serious.

Some days we actually
Feel the things we talk about.

She wants to talk about sky
The way it hangs there, looks
So comfortable being present.

Makes me
Comfortable
Being present.

Like my skin is dust.
Doesn’t always
Have to blow.