Mercury Girl

Mercury must be her element
for nothing,
not fingers, hands or words
can catch or keep

Sure, she holds my hand
but only if I ask
and even then
I wonder if I've intruded
exceeded invitation

She says she feels small
but I feel smaller

She thinks I want to give all
when little is all I have to give

She thinks I understand
and feels safe
when I am ignorant
and the only think I know
is that I am happy

She thinks I can't wait
for heaven to arrive
if just once a month
when heaven she delivers
without a word

she frequently confuses
regularity with frequency
calls for randomness
but insists, 'once a month'

'You talk, I listen,' she says
and so I listen to silence
and wonder if she hears at all

But she's all about ephemerality
of strawberry sundaes
used books and children's stories
destinations she has never heard of
and futures I am not a part of.

Ode to a silly girl

She loves soccer

and has her favorites
eyes glued to the screen
a half-smile on her lips
she knows stuff
like the inevitable penalty shoot-out
regardless of score line.

She loves humor
loves to laugh,
and most times
she laughs twice;
she admits,
'tube-light'.

She knows the textures
and fragrances of love
but gently disavows:
"I don't know and I don't want to know."

So I ask and she says "no"
but in her sweet silly way
trips over the "no" that means "yes"
laughs and reaffirms boundaries.

And we talk of things known
and unknown
bend conversations
into safe houses
and comfortable spaces,
she does not dismiss
and neither does she embrace
"not underserving, but still, 'no'" she says
but she does not know,
this silly girl,
that proximity or distance
metaphorical or literal
no difference makes
for silliness is another word for wisdom
and label means nothing
for one who has abandoned mind
and swears by the heart