Poem: After the Block Party

After the Block Party

A boat floats across the harbor
its light a single, mournful candle
as the sad growl of a motorcycle
fades  in the distance

Lovers walk away from me
Hands and eyes reach out
in the disembodied dark
dancing barefoot on bare floor
as intention and energy
bare their white teeth

You are dancing two feet away
But I am pulled and pushed
Into the Shiva circling of your arms
I am dancing past the boundary 
of my own skin 
tentative as the breath of surf

A sudden slap of wave,
and your eyes are on mine
beseeching, burning
pulling me out and in
the surf drawing its breath
the urgent growl of a motorcycle
thundering past

I love my loneliness
staring out at the ocean
with predatory eyes
that miss nothing

I am far away from the party-goers
dancing in the ambulance light

I am a searchlight pulsing over the horizon
Deeply seeking the other side
the mournful connection
--a single candle
--a light in the harbor
--a ghost, a mist, the scent of decay

This is the ocean
This is where I live
--a twist of driftwood an empty limb
--a white suggestion of birch tree
--a drowned forest primeval

The mournful candle of your eyes
glowing over the black water
slowly turning away

8/19/2012