| 1355  7  7   
 | Suddenly everything is delaminating 
People are popping right off 
the surface of humanity 
I am coming loose from my previous lives  | 
		
		
			| 13  1  1   
 | The woman in shorts chooses to 
remove her own clothes 
even as the men at the café 
continue to watch her 
without hooting once 
because they have learned 
how to contain themselves 
while smoldering. 
 | 
		
		
			| 1  0  0   
 | By a wiseman once I was told 
Keep an ounce of optimism in the heart
Keep a space for newness
Keep optimism in the heart
And include yourself as part of it
And now the mysteries of memory 
Are caught up in their own cloak 
And I am in your mind | 
		
		
			| 714  6  2   
 | When words were first born 
They were like pure prayer 
I could see them in the sky 
And hear them whispering through your hair 
But now they’re like dreams 
That only sorrow owns 
We still need the sun 
We need to find 
Solace on the ground 
 | 
		
		
			| 841  6  4   
 | When the truth is spoken, we don’t know 
Where to look, as if we only know someone 
Has gotten away with something big 
 
Or stolen someone’s heart, knowing how easy 
It was, how fragile, how true to itself 
So open and weightless, without guile 
 | 
		
		
			| 770  6  3   
 | The sky’s on fire with existence 
When I’m around you 
Your wandering kisses enter my soul 
But your quiet beauty may be 
What really carries you 
It is like 
Finding and touching the 
Pearl of existence 
To be near you 
Was that your tattoo  |