(Excerpt from The Exquisite Pain of Flowering)
If reincarnation is real,
I hope we’re reborn as two tricolor mountain pups—
Who’ll never ask, “Am I good enough?”
Or amber-beaked waterfowl,
Who haven’t been tamed by tales of Icarus.
Or dandelions growing with each new sunrise
As they form cracks in renewed pavement.
So, that I never have to play shame’s warped records
Over the sounds of you whispering, “I love you.”
