Nighttime walking
when the cold bites
and the little lights line the streets
like crooked teeth in the night’s wily smile
We walk a while
We wait for feelings that were once erased
We know they can’t be replaced so we chase them
into snowy streets
onto ice sheets where cars don’t dare to drive
We hope to come alive
We walk a while
and try to find our smiles
The trees droop
despite their lack of leaves
Sunbeams reach in between
and find the place where you and me lay
pressed against each other’s cheeks
Birds skip along bronzed branches
making pinecone dancers
Chorus lines that silently swing in time
to the rhythm of the soft twilight
Spring is wild
like the eyes of a child
Dark and bright
like a starry, starry night
Lit from behind like a high flying kite
Winking and waving at the warm sun
Glowing with hope for the days to come
Breezes move twisted trees
and dried up leaves teeter on the tips of stripped branches
Their quick dances end when their stems are ripped
and the leaves are whipped into misty air
leaving the branches bare
Birds break pods of plants long gone
interrupting each other with chatter and song
I used to smile wider
but now my smile is tired
These lined eyes used to be kind
I used to be fine
Your heart used to be mine
My heart used to be blind and
I had the kind of mind that goes out with the tide
Seer-suckered and wide eyed
Clear head waiting to be fried
Light heart waiting to be denied
All my blossoms waiting to be dried
Now they’re hanging inside
leaving piles
of petals
of times gone by
like a loaf of fresh bread
Bread for breakfast
Hang your hat on the head of my bed
and slide under covers thick and feathered
Wrap as much of you around as much of me
and come and meet me in my sleep
My heart knows where to find yours
along the lines of these western shores
Beneath arms of a tree
twisting hard toward the sea
On a sandy beach
old water underneath
Fresh waves soak sand down to clams, rocks and weeds
Beside shifting seas, eager to tease
with rippling swells that dance at your feet
In a salty breeze with sandy knees
and woolen arms for holding me
Under cap pulled low against gust and gale
In the heart of a land made of tales of whales
and seafaring men with their dinghies and dories
who made it their duty to bring us sea stories
Crabs scurry, but worry little
as the sun goes down
on this sailors town
The gulls keep watch on the empty streets
and my lips find the lips they’ve been longing to meet
Blue is the sky and your eyes
Grey is the color of mine when they cry
Green is the leaves on the trees
and this feeling is for you and me
The money will come with the work that is done
All the worries we know won’t just get up and go
No, they’ll run
Brown is this shit on the ground
Red is the fire and these smooth soul sounds
We’ll sway and bend until the music ends
and the plants will find that they’re inspired to climb
They’ll climb higher than high
To the heavens they will ascend
And the world will know
that both above and below
there is energy flowing again
On stormy days we braved the rain
to venture through valleys of sunken grades
Through fields of fog on level planes
To places where puddles struggle to drain
and colors fade
Greens into brown and yellows to grey
In flannel we marched like a cheerful parade
Seeking shelter in places that normally shade
Feeling cozy, though frozen, under tree or in cave
In a dank, dark place along our route
we happened upon the valuable truth
that in order to live we must put on our boots
and break from places we’re warm and dry,
but barely alive
and missing a misting so sweet I could cry
Elsa Curtis | I like to write 