when the day has been too long

when the day has been too long

1.
cracking the cage door,
i am no chicken

the unpleasantries worm their way in
with an expanse wide as range and hilltop
free with beak and burdens
free with feathers and claws
wings and wings

still
no flight could compete with such
fertility, i am a provider

2.
breakfast splits/yolks sizzle
the morning produces a pattern of language

meow to stretch, stretch to encircle
sweat to moan, moan to merge,
relief, relief, to return,
encircle

the tea kettle steams
where is the in between

3.
i am a keeper of vegetables in rows
who seeds and tends and watches death fall
in cold breaths and harvested hands
i am sensual in a city of sharp edges
from leaves to lies, creaky corners, abandoned desires
this mind of mine resists the absolutes

yet i am crushed under the obvious
needing a box to grow within
needing a box to grow out of

4.
i could wrap myself in chicken wire
i could wrap myself in ribbons
i could wrap myself around myself
i could unravel

5.
domestication describes me with quick glance
aren't i here to serve and serve
feed and flame
be tamed
to give
up
i take
the space
and bound out
the gates with rhythm, with canter then gallop
mind over matter coming into the long wild view

6.

i will not be kept or caught
i will do no harm
i will not set traps or snares
i will do no harm
i will not conceal my own fears and reasons
i will do no harm
i will not reach for what is not offered
i will do no harm

8.21.12