Wet earth and moss-
a soft landing
and for once a full
stop.

I watch the clouds,
now there’s nothing else to do;
some take the shapes of things I’ve seen,
but most are just cloud-shaped.
They make me sad, those no-name clouds.
They are the thoughts I can’t have and now
I know I haven’t seen enough.

This one’s a bear-
I fought a bear this year
and a lion and a crocodile.
There was a tiger,
big as a horse,
and some sharks that looked like people.
That’s a lot of teeth; a lot of hooked claws
tearing off the best of me.
And now the grass grows tall feeding on my blood,
but it’s ok:
I’m done with bleeding.

There’s a turtle, Sculpted
in egg-white peaks!
I show him my very best smile-
maybe the sun will bleach it white like bones
in the desert.
I’ll lie here and grin a skeleton grin,
a cloud-white grin,
forever.