~Tell me something that matters to you~

about your dog, and how he is particularly talented

at balancing a sandwich on his head

and your baby who sleeps with her bum in the air

and how you almost didn’t live to meet her

or about the piano delivered to your house last night

that somehow made it a home

~Tell me~

about those who have mended your life

and how you’re just now learning to be free

Tell me something that matters to you

~~~

I sat by the ocean last week, the sun softening the winter in my skin,

while fingers of waves chased to the shore, and then were sucked out again

a Madrona tree, sinuous and silky,

felt like a body in my hand … and I forgot about everything else

I was just a creature among creatures

disarmed and vulnerable

my hair blowing like branches,

 unadorned