August 28, 2009.
A cloudless morning from horizon to horizon
and yesterday I chased my hat through
a hailstorm, gasping and dodging
cholla cactus and rocks that might
have sent me reeling to the ground.
The wind this morning is tossing my heart
around like a crippled kite and I
am sane enough to wonder
why I feel so good.
A tiny kitten sped by determined
to catch a butterfly
she’ll never catch.
If I could capture
that furious intensity
and carry it in my pocket
I wonder how long I’d save it
to use on a lovely woman
or a song.
The kitten, weary, is on my lap
purring and nuzzling me
and somehow I know
there are reasons to live
and no reason to die
except you have to. I hold
onto that as tightly as I hold
this exhausted kitten in my lap.
[from BIG HAMMER No. 15 (which is available by clicking here…]
