Trees and Light

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Running through the woods
stone fences melting into green
my feet flying over
trees and light
trees and light 

At Lincolnville beach the rocks are
sun-warm and hard to walk on
cold water rising up my legs
grey mud squished between my toes 

The old road leads to where / I’ve never been there
three steps nailed into the tree by the shed
corn tall in the field and rows of red raspberries
every pond has a raft to swim to 

I feel running in my legs
I feel running in my chest
All I know is how to move
Colors and how to move 

———

Then I put wheels on
So I could move more freely
flying down hills, it’s magic
feeling the sweet curve of gravity

Reading pyramids and Patagonia
ocean sailing and Fifty Classic Climbs
the boys on boats that ate their shoes
and the others that were sent to find them 

I followed them to the asteroids and Mars,
space elevators and black holes
sleeping for centuries
in ships mapping stars 

I want to live in the in-between, where
shapes and colors play their game
like trees and light
trees and light 

———

I stopped moving for five minutes, just once
lying on my stomach in the grass
I lay there hoping for one / one thing
and then I felt your weight and
your breasts on my back

I want to live between your legs
buried in the sofa cushions,
blankets and the spinning songs,
and whispering 

Wrapped in your brown hair
the sound of your voice like
tea and lemon cake / in
your underwear after school 

Tuesday morning in your father’s Sunday flat
looking for words in the dictionary
we’re looking out at the trees and light
trees and light 

———

Climbing trees and mountains
up is there / it’s where to go
up, faster, in, go is all I know
moving felt like me 

climbing felt like me
motor power felt like me
moving felt like me
other people felt like empty shapes 

I didn’t know anything at all
carrying sand
scraping steel
emptying boxes 

I watched for a sign
I went looking / and
I made maps in my mind
I slept and I ate / and I went to find

Running bare-assed in the wind
I want to live
in the trees and light
trees and light 

———

All my old things are gone
I haven’t had the time to save them 

My hands are wedged together
prying open the space between 

So that I can move
in the trees and light
trees and light
trees and light