Pulled

You lean in, lips almost

Touching my ear

Your whisper

Humidifying my hair

And every one of my

Individual molecules

Strain toward

You

All of me aching

To get closer

Every drop of water

That makes up

Me

Tries to bead on

My surface

I have to use my

Higher brain

To control the

Reptile part

To remain civilized

Against my body’s will

It reminds me of playing

In the garden as a child

The irrigation water

Rushing past cornstalks

Washing iron filings up

In the Colorado sand

I could gather scads of

The black, hairlike filings

With a magnet

Held inches away

They would leap

Through thin air

Pulled helplessly

Just like me

To you

Your Love is a Truck Farm

When you’re starving

And you find a little patch

Of strawberries, or

Maybe some raspberries

Growing in the forest

They taste amazing

So tangy, so sweet

And you’re grateful

They keep you alive

But they don’t last long

And soon you’re longing

For something, anything

Even the tiniest bite

And you nearly give up

But then there’s an acorn

And it’s bitter, but

Still you’re grateful

And you tell yourself

That it isn’t bitter

And you tell yourself

That you’re full

You really are

You don’t need

More than this

This is enough

This should be

Good enough

Then one day

You stumble upon

A truck farm

There are beans

And squash

And sweet corn

There is so much

That you almost

Make yourself sick

And days and weeks later

You realize you haven’t

Worried

About getting enough

For a very long time

You find a ripe strawberry

The most beautiful one

The sweetest one

And you just enjoy it

It doesn’t keep you alive

All by itself

You weren’t desperate

When you found it

But it reminds you

Of all those scary days

When you were starving

And there wasn’t

Nearly enough

So you savor it

Then it’s gone

But that’s okay

Because there’s

Another one

Right here

Joel at 58

Fifty-eight birthdays

But, actually: one

This is the only one

That exists

The others have passed

Or have not yet come

And so, this is the only one

That matters

The first one

We celebrate together

Sometimes it seems

So strange

How we found each other

And we are still

Getting to know us

But it is my privilege

To see what is really

Back there

Past the big muscles

And the bigger laugh

The beautiful voice

The handsome face

Behind what you

Show everyone else

It is real

And messy

And true

But also –

Beautiful

And there is weakness

And softness

Love

Pain

Sadness

And fear

But you are wrong

Wrong

If you think

That is it -

That

That is all

There is

Because I have seen

More

Beneath the softness

That hides

Behind your mask

Deep in the middle

In the quiet

In the dark

There is something else

You

The real you

Curled like

A bird

Inside an egg

Sitting like

A prisoner

In solitary

Quietly ticking like

A clock

Waiting

Waiting

And

I see you, in there

I see you