Dear poem
I made a choice
to make us wait to
roll off the shoulder
of the morning
stand tall & face with a smile
the heat-heavy centre of noon
wave as she passes on the wink
of a flirty wind then forward bend
into the belly of the five o’clock hour
& gather our wits in the shower
steam swirls fattening after this
full day of purging & cleaning
the house & the mind
pleasure delaying our daily relation
this ink & paper intercourse of
poetic propulsion persisting…
I feel you differently here
in the yawning mouth of eve
inhaling toward night
soon the dark will tow the moon
over my head & my word play
will tip-toe into dreamland &
you will greet me like a lover’s
tongue on the tip of another
waking hour &
I will choose you again
dear poem
VANESSA SHIELDS, writer 