Denial

The violets fall

petals

atop the snow.

Dogs bury their noses

in the ground where

they say your body fell.

Tall shadows of oaks

cloud the taste of the sun.

But I know the smell of cinnamon,

the sway of the hammock

created from twigs

where you rock yourself to sleep.

Anger

Sinewy-black

ribbons unfurl

around a rose. A child

shouts winter-borne joy.

Cacophony sounds like two

brooks breaking down

stream. Fish scavenge

for ancestors

in the bed of their home.

Remember your teeth

shudder around

a closed fist.

Bargaining

I pin muddy cattails

deep in the marshes,

listen to them click

against the wind.

We made a deal

not to pluck them

or maybe not to plant

anymore.

I bring the roughage

to the surface, wait

for something else.

A shadow, unwelcome.

Depression

He kisses my back,

suturing the ruins

the only way we know how,

skin unfurling skin.

Do you remember those aches

coiling in my pit? Here

take them

from my hands

when the grey falls

from your scalp.

Acceptance

Sunlight scrambles

over the edge

of the white-fingered

birches. Droning sounds

exhale from the song

thrushes. Speckled chests

heave onus hearts.

I catch one falling,

breathe life into his beak,

trace his grooves.

Is this where

we memorialize? Your palms

press together

fold and unfold, again.