Yes To Darkness

The other night I heard children sing and women’s and men’s voices twine together with the breath-and-muscle acoustic calls of instruments that came from forests, from the spines and limbs of trees.  And when I got home, finally the real dark got me, and it got me good.  I don’t know if I’ll ever want to leave, now that I’m in, deep under, and hushed.  In praise of long nights, of soft soothing darkness.


SOLSTICE FINDS ME (this just happened)


suddenly I find myself standing out from under roofs

it was all day under roofs today, again
I was not aware of the low head-space, all day

and before I can mindlessly carry out my mundane 
almost-made-it-to-bedtime transition
great gravelly trek from steering wheel to toothbrush to bed
before I can do that I find myself standing in a tiny pool of light slanting 
from the car door
with an infinite, gloaming horizon crashing my walls and sweeping me beyond myself

here I am in a puddle of illumination
and suddenly above me 
all this space
wait, oh wait, I’m not in a driveway
I’m in a galaxy

I sense the dark space, cool and sweet
such a secret, shrouded invitation to grow up and out
my head lifts, my eyes open
my lungs awaken and thirstily pull the dark sweet in, in, in

the sky plays little games with me as I finally remember it
one of my eyes is covered, softly blinded with a looming patch of night cloud
the other eye has simply become a star
and gentle kisses of rain land over both

my arms lift to this great cup of sky darkness
that might just flip this drenched, dripping land, and me with it
might turn me upside down and drink me

my arms lift and a tender bone thunks into a slightly new place
somewhere just under my collarbone
a rib learning anew to get along with its neighbours, bone on bone
it can be tricky
to redefine relationships
so close to the heart

I stand here blinking like a farm animal (bones sorting, chest gasping like a newborn’s)

cloud-star-rain eyes staring at the universe that had kind of slipped my mind
while without and within
room to breathe
tries to find me

and the sky wants to up-end me and swallow me
yes
the night wants to toss me back and chase me with a gulp of river or of wine
yes
and my bones want to shuffle me from the inside out
yes
and put a brand new card on top
out here,
out from under roofs
oh yes