Anxiety eats me up
Uncounseled
By the up-side-down moon,
Is not content with Venus,
Or Maui’s nets dragging the Universe
Of stars, plowing the planets in a surging sea.
A throw-net of river stones
Plunging me into blue skies,
Tears me apart with shark teeth
And sea shells,
Kills me with patience,
Ka-bobs me with sharp spikes
And holds me over a keawe wood fire
To burn hot, and clear, and bright.
Anxiety drives me into the soil
An O’o stick on stone lamenting
Where planting fingers linger near,
Binds me,
Ties me,
Strings me,
Stakes me,
And leaves me
Empty,
A fluttering Hawk’s feather falling free,
Without vibrant red flowers or the sound of rain
Or small ferns bursting with green
On muddy earth
And silent words unsaid in firelight
Lit only with eyes
And rain on skin
once caressed me
With a look.
And a touch,
A leaf on a current
Of air, of water, of breath, of sadness,
Of love with nowhere to go,
Blows me quietly away.
hinarising 