sort and dismantle

your thoughts, keep

the good, spread

out the hard—

Love waits

patient, unseen, outside of time

It cloaks as car accident

I finger your vertebral nubs

admire the planes of

your lean, fast hips

covered by snug-fitting skin

and a desert coat, so short …

Fog on the creek

When a breeze whips up

tendrils disperse

My life too has thinned—

paths, choices yearned for

and turned from …

Hot, fierce, unrelenting

wind blows toward us

blackened Bible page

charred shopping list

tatters of lives flutter

nine miles from the fire

nine miles …