a valentines day explanation of my reaction to your excessive and abnormal synchronous neuronal activity

- for melissa 

the reason i keep wishing
i would stop remembering
the way your face went blank
as you seizured on my birthday
and your body went rigid
falling backwards like a tree 
is that it was the first moment
since i met you 
that i thought 
you had ceased to exist
and that 30 second space 
before i was able to feel your heartbeat again
was a glimpse into a place
i cannot accept.

the world only makes sense
when you are in it.

basketfall

we have become experts
at carefully crafting metaphors
for small, strange, and silent forms of loss
and for random miniature disasters

two small trees of oranges
destroyed by a sudden random ice storm
still perfect in their color
their shape
and a sweetness
we can only still imagine

(special thanks, attribution, and additional dedication to sharon and matt)