book :: crush (selected poems of richard siken)

• from seaside improvisation — you wanted happiness, i can't blame you for that, and maybe a mouth sounds idiotic when it blathers on about joy but tell me you love this, tell me you're not miserable.
• from litany in which certain things are crossed out — down the alley, around the arcade, up the stairs of the building to the little room with the broken faucets, your drawings, all your things, i looked out the window and said this doesn't look that much different from home.
• from i had a dream about you — these are the dreams we should be having. i shouldn't have to clean them up like this.
• from you are jeff — don't leave the room until i come back from the dead for you. i'll come back from the dead for you. .... keep talking. i'll keep walking toward the sound of your voice.

book :: selected poems of langston hughes

• from i continue to dream — do you understand my dreams? sometimes you say you do, and sometimes you say you don't. either way it doesn't matter. i continue to dream.
• from silence — in your silence every tone i seek is heard.

book :: the essential rumi

• from a children's game — from books and words come fantasy.
• from i have five things to say — first, when i was apart from you, the world did not exist, nor any other. second, whatever i was looking for was always you.
• from be melting snow — wash yourself of yourself.
• from a great wagon — come to the orchard in spring. there is light and wine, and sweethearts in the pomegranate flowers. if you do not come, these do not matter. if you do come, these do not matter.
• from a blocked road — you are every image, and yet i'm homesick for you.
• from constant conversation — why live some soberer way and feel you ebbing out? i won't do it. either give me enough wine or leave me alone, now that i know how it is to be with you in a constant conversation.
• from music master — you would rather throw stones at a mirror? i am your mirror, and here are the stones.
• from the private banquet — which is worth more, a crowd of thousands, or your own genuine solitude? freedom, or power over an entire nation? a little while alone in your room will prove more valuable than anything else that could ever be given you.
• from this we have now — those come and go. this is the presence that doesn't.
• from a dove in the eaves — i don't care about marvelous sights! i only want to be in your presence.
• from the arc of your mallet — the way the night knows itself with the moon, be that with me. be the rose nearest to the thorn that i am.