On the theme of Life Cycle
Ley Lines
WHEN I LIFT THIS GIN TO MY LIPS
I spread the maps across the floor
The freeways like ley lines
You’ve been leaving me for so many years now
You’ve broken my heart in 80 and fixed it all new
No four a.m. hands to face
No late night documentarians
No black out punch drunk
Love
WE HAD TO LEAVE EACH OTHER LIKE
But never say you miss him so
Never say you want to lay your body settled by his
In the night
It’s a new life
But it started like this: Technicolor day-glo brights
My brother reading in a basement
And we shared a cigarette upstairs
HOW TO TELL THE SHY OR THE UNBELIEVERS
When eyes meet a soul connection
Reach back to the place beyond this life.
Back
Beyond this life
We started in swirls
In marriages
In relationships
Where I
I WAS WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING
You’d scream if we could just be back
Together licking ice cream
Swinging our heels
To the stage of devotion
All water was holy water
And all smoke frankincense
We had a routine
A morning routine
Where we’d smoke and dance
To the one song that is exquisitely ours
With phosphorescence in action
We had a day
A lifetime
YOU ARE CAUGHT IN MY HEART
I had adjusted my schedule to fit his long ago.
Now I don’t sleep
Just to make sure we see the same sunrise
Wherever he is
Long dusty sunny roads
And me
Caught without ink on my hands.
Author Biography
Monica Storss is a “left-coast poet with an affinity for the deep South.” She writes the “Ask A Publicist” column at litbridge.com, is a curator at If Not For Kidnap, and co-runs CymaSpace. Her work has appeared in Dash Literary Journal, Unshod Quills, The Southern Women’s Review. She has taught at UC Davis, Portland State Univeristy, American River College, and Portland Community College. Best known as a performance poet, she has toured all over the world. monicastorss.org.