thank you (for my homegirls)

today
where morning is vast
and absolute as the memory of love
green love in clear water
and earthen as adobe and the
alluvial new mexico in a blessing of rain
and i dare run again towards the sun
and breath
a beautiful heaviness like life
that takes the shoulders
tilts the head
filling the face with sun
miles of easy breath
here where the knees are fine
the body unlocks in rhythm
exclaims the early hour
the stretch and worship
oh, the body unburdened
i want to thank you
oh sistuhs thank you

saturday unfolds it canopies
like astronauts seeing
the world rotating into the
slow burn of sun
so bright the oceans glow and marble
the astronauts rejoice
some in worship
free and profuse at the edge of the unknown
it’s like that
loving you
oh, thank you
ferris wheels on fire
18 wheelers carrying flowers
marking the hour gear changes
ghosts in the pomegranate orchards
the shriek of starling the gulls
syncopating in harvested fields
lift into season and freckle across memory
i long to levitate into dawn
and thank you
oh, i want to thank you
just like that
as simple as saying red is red
or you are very beautiful and wise
in the plainest print
in a clarity so lucid
that even untruth is truth
the chant in the
procession of moments and
the heart in cadence
the composition of the man i am
oh thank you so much

every shadow that consumes me
and lets me pass
each day coming into day
and rejoicing in the acacias
and each night moving moon
through a thicket of walnut trees and universe
each house asleep and on fire with dreams
or each small hope anchoring our collective humanity
is like me being contingent to your love
relevant to your love
honed by your friendship
and introduced in kinship
thank you thank you sistuhs
as honestly as a quiet kiss
i want to thank you
for companionship for comfort
for recognizing me among the millions
of people seeking someone in the stillness
of their long lives
before i forget
before this beautiful moment passes
before i am confused and mix the metaphors
and lose what i am able to voice
before the tears flow from the ocean i have become
and i cannot say it
oh, thank you sistuhs
thank you

here behind the heart
at the marrow of new bone
where memory catalogues loss
and regret is a loneliness wandering an
empty country
this freedom laughing out loud
as simple and grand a joy as sleeping late
as easy an elation as greeting a friend
or wearing new shoes
oh, sistuhs
where we stand today
in the trepidation before traffic
before the city unhinges and the cargo ships
moan into port and populate the early bay
this nomad exclaiming to the world
i am alive
and strong by love
and on my way
thank you