Two Poems

Uphill
 
If asked
what the most beautiful sight
on earth is
I’d probably say
     that it’s the feeling
     of a blanket half covering bare shoulders in May
     with skies drizzling outside—
That is surely one of the most important times
     to live through

I think I’d also have to say
     that whatever I don’t understand
Is really lovely in the hungriest sort of way
     because it makes me pedal uphill
     especially for soup
     or the kind of bread I’ve always loved

And to be honest
I’d also have to admit
     what I’ve known all along—
That for something to really float or glow
     or leave a mark
It has to be well out of place
     in all the worst ways.

++++
 
Bicker
 
There are lots of reasons to not be careful
     to love floors that badly slant
It makes sense too
     to worry in circles—
     to end at the core like a bad piece of fruit

So why not lose a terrible battle
     hands down
Why not thrive through mistakes
     and die dumb

As they say
Hands down is where all of our fights live—
     those days that go wildly wrong
     such wasted grins
          or loves lit by mistakes
Even fingers teach us a lesson
     when we forget to need tricks

And then there are log jams
     or surely our dearest ghosts
     that sit atop so-evers and surelys

No and yes
It takes harm
It takes pepper on dreams
It takes all of what happens
     between stumbling and falling
     to live with the thunders of
          giving in.