when I Forget, this will Remind me
(Published in Avant Spring 2006)

under a street lamp
flickering with moths
he tells me,
“You give too much;
let yourself
                          receive.
… Think of it as
                          an hourglass.”
then he places his tongue
on his saxophone reed,
tests a few finger positions
to refresh his memory,
and when the struggling sound
evens
into rich, moaning notes,
I sit back
and imagine my heart
emptying into my womb
but the glass is cracked
and golden sand spills out into the dirt.
the moths gather to scatter it everywhere:
some fruitless pollination.
this is what happens
when you neglect me.
I am emptying;
I am empty:
a hollow in which his music resonates
reverberates
temporarily fills me
until I can realize
                          how to retrieve
              my insides.