Stiletto
Stiletto drops like river
Runoff echo in the cave.
Once dawn’s cables bridge
The canyon, you, first
Diurnal venturer,
Step out to punish pavement;
A clacking beacon
Through the cavern fog.
Few can wake cave
Dwellers with heel strikes,
Yet shutters quiver
With your reprimand.
You call us to prayer,
Our Lady of the Cobblestone.
The morning metronome,
You spur ironic symphonies:
One infant wail,
An engine growl,
A lone dock door
Sliding up its chain.
With each strike a new
Intrusion on your march.
Your shoes near mute now,
I know the scuttling day
Must start. But please,
Pause for one more
Drag before you
Bury yourself in the tunnel.
Breathe smoke into that signal
Echo so it lingers.
Redeeming Time
Brushed with gold
From evening awning light,
Her lashes lift a paradox;
And behind a social scrim
Of softest mettle,
A joyous shadow dances.
Do you look with suspicion on the world?
The world is space tonight—
Black halo around the yellow globe
Of this patio—and her laughter
Absolves indifferent air.
Successive
When I return to cold,
Woolen hackles up,
Ample pockets plunged,
Exaggerated shoes
Abbreviating snow,
The leftovers of spent
Thanksgivings follow me.
Needs baked in yams
And wants served warm
With my bowl of soup
Impel me back to this house.
Your absence is the uninvited guest
This year, like Elijah actually
Showing up at Passover:
For years, we left the door open;
Your departure now
Arrived, we battle gravity.
Your adhesive smile
No longer the centripetal,
We substitute with squash.
Outside again, my boot soles
Rewind the pavement like tape.
Frosted grass and leaves,
The pestilent familiar,
Crunch under me.
These were your multitudes
More than mine. Yet you
Bequeath this bureaucracy
To me? Am I
Supposed to guard each step,
Dally mid-air over
Brittle death, lose balance,
Preserve their fragility,
And break my neck?
You were known to trip
Now and then, crush
A leaf in your stride.
Am I then to blame
When the brittle and worn,
So ensconced in ice,
Crack from my innocent misstep?
I check your watch:
About now,
Would you
Say we need to
Hurry back,
Tease me
We’re lost,
Challenge me
(“Lead us home!”)
Then feign incredulity
And holler praise
For your succeeding sidewalk voyager?
You had me balance before
On a log, but then
You held my hand. Now,
I have only outstretched arms.