for my daughter
I would like to say something
about this joy I feel from knowing you
are alive in the world sometimes
in your bedroom other times the trees
alone acknowledge me but no matter
because you are
somewhere even without me
the lines of you not like smoke
like permanent marker the un-
mistakable shape, the shape of my love
the shape of my body not mothers
or sisters I share that only with you
There is a picture
I’m holding you next to the mailbox
There is a picture of you
sitting in the orchard just before
you tried to run
She’ll always come back, I thought
drawn in as it were by the earthquake
of my love shaking not
with fear but with delight
because you are. With your short hair
and your doe-eyed twinkle twitching
your way through some forest or other
some wooded haven I can almost see
my coiled love for you releasing and
releasing as sails fill with unfamiliar
air you cut your teeth on beach glass
remember deer tracks in the sand and
following to learn the story
look how deep the marks all night
I smash bottles against rocks so you
will always have something
to search for. The possibilities are
