I'm posting all three parts here, because I think it is one poem. Also, just to say — this exercise has resulted in something much different than my usual. Whether this is a good or a bad thing, I can't yet tell:
I.
the walls are filled with the lives of children
what appears to be an exit changes to a trap
you have everything to loseoil rainbows the water, a thin & dangerous sheen
that pain you call love pulls you away
there is no point in stoppingin the middle of the mountain road
an old woman walks in the wrong direction
she is thin & frail, she wears a red coatyears have passed, buildings torn down, rebuilt, renovated
each place you sail into more beautiful than the last
sometimes she can be heard, crying in the lakethe sun drops into the sea like a stone
you repeatedly forget what you have remembered
this part lasts forever
II.
this is how it happens
static in a closed room
an electrical humI open my hand
sparks escape from my palm, crackling
like petting a cat in the darkyou reach out & touch my face
a cradle, a caress
it's warm there, where our skins meet
III.
you diminish in my arms & I want to take you into my body
the sky is washed with green light
you are not cold you are not therea small forest grows from fallen trees
we build houses & friendships around us like crypts
a string of mussel shells crosses the path you will have luckthe earth holds me up. feel that, you say. feel it.
I shake off the fear and make a place for myself
where your edges touch my edges there is painwe watch skipping stones of light on the water
the sky is nearly cloudless & goes pink at sunset
the moon comes up one day from full, with a face and a soft auraI try to find my own name
the river reflects nothing it absorbs the light
I can't carry this mask much longer
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