Moon Rider

Leaves fold open//birds chirp

Ice awakens//the moon in its sundress

An apple//a fresh start

Our book//a handheld path

Trail mix//cranberries like bread crumbs

Rocks to stones to pebbles//nonliving life

Stone fruit//mushroom forests

Dirt turns to trees//bees and wasps buzz

Monster’s mane//a wilder wilderness

A compass in my head//or your heart

Your touch//the night

A blanket of stars//warmth from within

Green memories//the best ending

i’m staring at a sculpture

i’m staring at a sculpture

oh so evocative

but i'm staring only for the purpose 

of the other people staring at me 

seeing that I am staring

jokes on them

i’m not staring at the art

i’m staring at my own reflection 

in that glass box that surrounds the sculpture

because people destroy art these days apparently 

maybe that’s good

maybe destroying the only thing 

humans create worth saving

will make change

anyway

i stare at myself

and maybe brush my eyebrows with my fingers

eventually I have to stop looking 

eventually they’ll know i'm daydreaming 

not analyzing the painting like an art sommelier

so I look away

at a painting near the wall

i walk a few steps closer

it’s a pastel, not a painting

but i still like to call it a painting