by Laura Jones

The chances for a sustained
nothingness
-- though slim --
are there.
and you should wonder why
you are so dumb
why you watch this pass,
and slip through your fingers
like not even sand
like water

you should wonder what will
shock you out of
moonlessness
bluelessness
downtownlessness
and tumble you, new, back
screaming into the river's
ocean waves.

Two planetary moons collide,
convincing tumultuous waves of stars
to follow in their footsteps,
their oceanic wake.

I startle awake to the sliver
of light under
my door -- awake with a start,
not knowing why --

A patch of birds ripple on the lawn,
awkward and restless in a graceless
dance with the scent of rain.

Writing the symbol of your name
with fingernail scratchmarks on
my brain, this brain that should
know better, that does know better --

Finally, visual heat streaks across the
sky. Sideways, and up from the ground,
never in the typical zig-zag pattern
you drew in elementary school --
the first in a series that has
kept you going until
now

That place in my memory
has opened up, that place
that allows some finite mass
to slide through my body,
reminding me of all that
makes me whole...