In Search of The Camel

Who are you?

This last year of life

What made you,

Which cloth and what knife

Broke the rich mold from clay into camel,

From stone into saddle,

From sludge to dancer limbs that straddle

The world?

And what all did I miss

Before we met?

How came you to this?

Which paths, turns, and twists?

But a thousand lives wouldn’t fit

The lines on your palms,

The color of bronze.

Your words sound like unreconciled songs,

And if I submit to them, psalms

Pour out of your eyes,

As I swing right and wrong,

Our metronome spies

Transport me to a dream only words can name.

Ain’t it funny,

Ain’t it crazy

When poetry’s the game.

So where are you?

The air tastes like dirt.

Where have you taken me?

The sand moves my thirst,

And miles upon miles of liquid skin,

Expanses of time hum my soul to the winds,

And horizons stretch me out in a breath paper thin

Why do I know it’s here I begin?

Is this then the place

Where you uncovered her first?

In far away heat,

Did you taste your dessert?

And in the search find her under a rug,

Dust-covered corners,

That fierce little bug.

Is this how I know you—by your love?