starfall

I tried to sound smart. “The stars are so much brighter back home.”

“I know,” you said. You looked at me as though you’d touched one. 

A black bird flies by me. So close, 

I could touch it, like your outstretched hand,

if only I could get through this fence. 

Falling is a spiritual experience. Like flying, and a poem,

it leaves me with nothing 
except the whistling air. 

“I need to write you a poem,” I say. You look at me like

you don’t understand. But I don’t know how to say it any clearer. 

Once when I was crying you told me, 

“You are enough.” This must be how that star felt

As you held her in your hand.

part-time

I said
"there are some things I do miss"
I was stressed
and afraid
and hurt
but it wasn't all bad.

You became a cook.
I tasted the air up there.

(Maybe because of)
All that stress
and pain
and anger

I became a poet
You fell in love.

I liked working part time.
Getting to enjoy my time, there
- instead of feeling like it was my job.

I just enjoyed doing the dishes
Creative problem solving
Making myself useful.

Everyone misses what they're good at.
And I was a great
part-time wife.