A seal, a mantle, a diadem
I have known you
as a bird knows seasons.
A boxer’s bob
and weave.
You’re a mirror, no,
something grander. A tidepool
or fungal life. I
have tried in my way to be
certainty, to be free. Today,
that looks like rooting. Tomorrow,
that looks like rooting.
Some people pour
sand on this day
while we kicked sand in the air to
see how it falls. Levitates one
second, then a silent kaboom.
Fellini found the face of heaven
and called it cinema. Meanwhile, I’m out
dragging my fingers through lush ferns:
nettle, balm, nettle, balm, nettle.
One thing, among many, you taught me.
As you may know, I will be officially married soon. (Wooo!) So commitment, relationship, long friendship, love is on the brain. Here’s a little love poem.
The title is me repurposing some language from a sample wedding ceremony that didn’t quite resonate with me… so I made it shorter and subbed diadem for crown (way cooler word).
“I have tried in my way way to be free” is originally a line from Bird on a Wire by Leonard Cohen.
Fun Mason poetry lore: I’ve had a poem kicking around for about 7 years called ‘Nettlebomb’. It was always pretty terrible and I couldn’t figure out what it wanted to be, but I loved the title. Today ‘nettle’ and ‘balm’ happened to fall right next to each other and I FINALLY got to use the title.