The Absence of Wavelength

Between melatonin and gummies and highly aware?

‘… There's an ordinary world
Somehow I have to find
And as I try to make my way
To the ordinary world
I will learn to survive.”

Touchstones

Marshmallows from the back of the pantry
once formed, hovered over my head,
inedible now, yet
I can’t seem to throw them away

The hand me down dish cracked a little more
after another wash and again
I store it away
Touchstones, rare, claim my memory

The child I lifted and spun around the room,
witnessed joyously in song, an image
burned into unforgettable
Where is that innocent delight now?

I melt those marshmallows, in fudge made,
served on that plate under trap of cellophane
A remarkable moment arrives:
two gleaming green eyes and a cheery smile

Just one more dance, savoring confection,
I recall all old songs sung to her
and the dreaming charm
reawakens in my arms

The moment is captured, marshmallow consumed
before mother’s green ceramic hides away,
and mindfully pause
with one touchstone I value the most.

Sleep tight, if I could hush words
to that sleepy face, worn out.
Every marshmallow cloud
spun on that dish, we would make a wish…

…never to forget our tradition, give purpose
to the undying, glowing in clouds
through ceramic bright
and hold all the old memories tight.


10.20.24
Nothing can put me to sleep these days, missing over twenty nights of sleep this year. A secret I keep from her.
Not everything makes sense…