February 8th, 2015

Song for A Blue Guitar, Red House Painters, 1996

In the dream I sent him a letter
from the driveway which somehow
elicited a noise complaint from the neighbors

And I realized there were two "I's",
the "I" I was speaking from
and the "I" I was speaking to.

I don't know what this means,
nor who "he" was, but there were
many people in the dream I do
not see anymore, and I woke
to a sadness I am outgrowing.

I am drinking and drinking
the coffee to swallow the lump
in my throat

and trying to remember the specific
texture to the walls of this life I have
built, and why it is here that I am,
and why that is good.

God, you are my God. I banish
fear in your name in the dark

and speak to you in whispers of a
little girl. I swear, in spite of it all,
last night I felt your hand on my cheek