How To Be Everywhere
stand near a window
exhale
eye the sky
the tops of the trees
like pointing fingertips
lift memories from their
roots, roots deep in grounds
roots, I pushed deeply into
sand, soil, concrete – claiming
the places, imprinting them
into my cells for the needed
occasion, for the alchemy
of corridor-ed leading
beyond the kitchen
close my eyes
inhale
splendor my centre
open my ribs
conjure the lake
invite the wind
embrace the grace
of knowing a body
can be in several
places at once
so that endings
end and the
matter-ings
meander
through me
this is how I
live clandestine
in the destiny
of my body’s
desire to suffer
to human
the
being in
mortal
time…
death is always
touching me
her tender palm
on my neck
coaxing the lakes
resurrecting the
waves to the
shores of my
eyes
in the blurs
of between-ing
I am everywhere
I’ve ever been
love-tight
brimming
VANESSA SHIELDS 