The Banging Delete

It seems easier writing poems

when you're in the way of writing novels.

When you’ve become accustomed to a book

gestating and moving inside you,

all of it inside of you at once,

a poem feels like laughter,

short - a burst - over and done with

before you’re done blinking sense into it.

And both of these, poem and novel,

are my own way of breathing.

Days without words are like

hiccups in a life -

awkward - uncomfortable and

anxious to be over.

Mornings: when my hand

just needs the pen,

the clacking of keys, the banging delete:

are a deep inhalation, a welcome meditation.

And nights too. When I write (smiling)

lists of things to do,

people to become,

this great deep breathing

is my way of dreaming.

It's in and out, in and out, amen.