when I read your poem
i want to write
i want to never write again

when i read your poem
i want to live
i want to never live again
as i have been living
i want to die
and begin again

when i read your poem
i want to be
a better man
i want to be a scholar
a poet
a painter
i want to make a mark
worth making
on the history of man

it is not that i
have been asleep
not the way
you sleep in a bed

but when i read your poem
i wake

a part of me
long frozen in the dark
wakes

as if a light
were suddenly put on
in a forgotten room
of my soul

keys

another excerpt from keys

i dream
of inserting my key
into your lock

and rotating it
until your inner parts move
with a shudder
that releases the stops

and you open
like a treasure box
like a mystery
like a door onto the night...

excerpt from keys

i will leave a key for you
hidden by the door.

do not let the locks delay you~
they are paper and string
and not even sealed.

there is just one key
to open the door

and it sings

so you will find it easily
if you listen.

it sings in key
of course,

it sings in harmony
and you will be humming

as you enter.