Flood Tide


It rained diamonds, so I looked
to the sky. This was dazzling
and dark, both: sheaths of cloud
opening gray maroon lemon peach
turquoise. I felt my blood leap
in my body, or my body leaping.
I thought, This is what it is
to discover flight. I was leaning over
the parapet of myself, reaching,
straining at the bones over
my heart. Beneath me, the river
of my life brimmed with pearls
and sapphires. I was leaning over
the edge, ready to swim into the next
century. I could hear the leaves
on distant trees turn toward sudden
warmth, light breaking from the flesh,
desire synchronous with possibility.
I was who I am, and the sea and stars
knew it. Others were with me, seeking
to rise. I could gauge their power
by the flare of light that enthroned them. 
Diadems rained down. Flaming arcs. 
Tongues of multivalent fire. 
In such company, I was free to murder 
and create    and murdered death in me — 
dazzling and dark, both: a rain of emeralds 
and diamonds.





Birthday Present


Will you surprise me or will you give me 
what I want? If surprise seems in order, 
please not another tie, another book, another 
hair-shirt hero, another war, another liar 
for president, another lost and damaged God.  
Two hundred golden beetles circling 
my forehead round or twelve locusts leaning 
from my own right arm . . . can you arrange
such gifts? Can you cause the book of my life 
to be sent, all mysteries cleared up? 
or the long shelf of my lives past? Can you 
give me the sky's tilt and luminosity
on the night I was born? Will you surprise me 
or give me what I want? And if my desire 
matters, can you give me back my trust? 
the child's holy at-one-ness, unselfconscious 
love? Can you put meaning back in my heart?
Will you place words in my father's mouth,
bless my mother with comprehension?
Can you present me with grandmothers?
or permit me the world as it was when to live 
on this planet, this earth, was a cat's leap 
from a branch — grace and clarity?  

Didn't we have a contract, an honorable 
agreement? I would walk in the palm 
of your hand, a spirit at peace, lifted 
and carried, being himself the gift.