Second Poem (Solstice)

It is the day after solstice

Slowly more glowing minutes

Will accumulate like drops

And then spill into us 

Where will we be then? Springtime

I never loved you 

You broke my heart 

It was like drowning and loving drowning

I am safer having learned to swim

Watch me breathe in a steady rhythm now

Watch me float and kick, see how

Gracefully my arms emerge with every stroke

I never feel like drowning anymore

I ate so many flowers for you

Swallowed blossoms whole

Tried to fill myself with beauty

All I do is try try try

And when you admit it’s true 

You did love me then

The water creeps wetly back

Into my mouth, I want

To hold you there and I do

For months like a lovesick camel

Walking around full of you

My cheeks aching 

Not drowning, just remembering 

How it felt

Before I spit you out

Into the darkness of December 

Composting my foolishness

Into poems

Trying not to let myself turn

Numb to the numbers

The deaths an ocean of them

Too many drops to hold