The dew is indiscriminate

and falls on everything.

January 15, 2020, walk

The dew is indiscriminate and falls on everything.
The shadow is a reflection and draws its own conclusions
The intellect is a jailer with walls for arms.
My memory is a sieve and my thoughts a faithful dog,
Following the same path along a circular fence.

Messages on the pavement tell me everything true
All that I will ever need to know; but I am blind.

My body is faithful and honest
But I stumble in the dark with my eyes closed
I refuse to look and think I am safe

I hear:
Water to my left and wind to my right
the whirr of machines
The scrape of metal on pavement
A tumble of large shovels

I feel:
Heat on my back
wind and vibration
my steady stride.

The birds are oblivious
If I open my eyes will the stream still run?
Is the darkness real? My body tells me otherwise

With one foot I loose the arrow and the whole story changes
The hunted come home for tea and we slap each other on the back
We clasp each other tightly, the best of friends.

All my old toys are behind bars
I leave myself to go shopping.
I ride on two wheels with two arms two legs and no shell
I do not see the danger till I wake up on the ground
I will send you a year-end letter and tell you all about it.

Pieces of me break off and fall, resting lightly
on the soil and plants and cobwebs and spiders,
on the old woman walking with her husband and on the dogs tail
falling into the open door of the delivery vehicle
The hub in Rancho Cucamonga is littered with tiny pieces of me
they end up in Taiwan via air transport.

There is enough of me to go around
my body is an engine and a factory
and it always tells the truth
my bones fall off, are gnawed clean
and broken for their marrow.

I am done.