among the earliest

I break a toy sword you bought me

A sword from this toy store or that

The toy store I conjure in my mind when I think of those moments of raw excitement and self-assured need

Yes, I was sad it broke for its practical imaginary fighting purpose

But for also for some illogical reason I thought you’d be disappointed in me

Therefore I stand sobbing at the end of the driveway in a late fall afternoon- after school when all of the gold in the sky has no yet lost its luster, gold not yet left the sky

And you pull up in your car

Be it the green one

Or the brown before that or the German make black one before that

The one that always had problems, maybe

Or whatever one I choose to associate with your returning essence

You come home, hug me

Hear my sobs and without word takes me to get a new sword

So I can fight another imaginary battle

Because of you

untitled

Like walking on a pane of broken glass

I tread gingerly over fragments and shards of past words

Hurled and thrown slapped and tendered cooed and crowed 

Each word

Each shard

Each fragment sharper than it looks

But it's glass

Glass is always sharpest when broken

Each jagged syllable 

A reminder that blood flows the same

When cut by anything