watching fireworks

i close my eyes on the night
knew you when your skin glowed with
grey-bright, black ink pulses
of celestial brilliance

i reach up to write with stars' light
tracing pathways through milky clouds

i want to feel small and cold and connected
a smooth rock shaved by river's rush
flail of the current--held tight by gravity

so i will open myself again to a moment
fireflies and the smell of fireworks
stretched on a blanket in heaven's cradle,
alone--not empty--and touched by everything,

tail lights want escape and honk frantically
i am above it all, and in it
spend each minute counting one blade of grass
in strobing, exploding light
tree branches scratching the darkness, aching again
to know when dawn will break open the night

balloon

now and again he travels
shifting between shadowed cradles
and lightened pedestals,
sand-worn heart tucked within folds

he wants to dance in the riverbed
spilling cold water from between calloused palms
and to know that he will emerge from the water

the metaphor for search spilt over from the summer
examining rooms, clearing cobwebs of courtesy
and paying tuition for an introduction

this clear heart like a roadblock
empty spaces where i might put down my shoes
hoping to step inside is to learn the steps
how i'll fold sheets of paper into origami chairs
and cups, sheets and pillows

we'll be too quick to measure a tether
and with it leave only
black balloons tied to bike handles
buoyancy thwarted