Two Poems - Breathe and Then There is Peace

There is peace

in this 

vessel: a

cradle between the 

teeth of this

sea, a language 

in the soil, a wrist

waiting in some far-off,

unmolested 

light for my fingered

shadow & 

the salve of a

returned palm. 

I'm not a god the way the 

iris is, the orb of a sunlit

grape, the

mince of salt-

I am not though I am 

reborn, my web 

woven in lurid reds

and whites, a column

sand-bleached,

a lotus wrinkled

with heat.

Now in

the broken 

Breathe In/Breathe Out

pink bloodied

wings crash down

there is nothing above you

hollow rib-cage breath in

see earth 

as sea blue oval 

gasps for air

as bullet in

your child heart 

a feather

light when you breathe

dust collects 

firm grip

clinched fist 

joy every pore 

in dream

dull white and gleaning

in my sleep 

i can float

be invisible

would be perfection 

to the sky

would be perfection

but

when

I

wake

no matter 

slept through all of it

chaotic septicemia 

everyone heard the gunshot

couldn't reach their cry

it'll seem the bullet was meant to be

glade of my 

skull a river murmurs 

mother tongue and a baldfaced

woman stands 

naked against the

grass less edge, 

breathing only