Grip Me, O Thought!

Grip me, O Thought,
But let me think thee
In a language I clearly understand.
Unfold yourself simply,
Uncomplicate
Every fold into my hand.
Feed my eye.
Color my visions.
Dream your dreams into my sand,
And may they grow
A hundred fold,
As I live and breathe
And stand.

 

-jenn long

I walked a trail in the morning breeze.
The scent of your fingers ran through my hair.
I could still feel your hands on me
With every breathing step.

I went back to bed at noon,
Just so I could return to the dream-
The scene of my instantaneous spoiling,
The place where sweetness dawned.

And now the sun is warming me,
And an effervescent glow
Remains to shine
Til next time.
Such is a life full of love.

-jenn long

O Moon

Come to me you beautiful wreck.
Wash up on my shore.
Lay your weary head upon my sand.
Die a thousand deaths tonight
To wake up and be free.
You know the morning is at hand.

Turn your back on the mighty sun,
And shine on me,  O Moon.
I want your silver beams to fall.
Whisper the secrets of the ancient place and time.
I want to understand it all.

Won't you make the rivers come to me?
Won't you make the rivers run to me?
I've survived the shipwreck and the sea.
Won't you make the rivers run to me?

Your words just matter more to me, O Moon.
They drop plumb line to my soul.
They strike a harmony,
Twin fiddles in my heart.
They mean much more to me than gold.

So teach me softly about love, Sweet Moon—
Sweet lessons I have never learned.
Pull all the tides away so at Last I can be free.
Make all my shallow rivers run.

Won't you make the rivers run to me?
Won't you make the rivers run to me?
I've survived the shipwreck and the sea.
Won't you make the rivers come to me?

There is a light in the darkness,
And it is you, O Moon.
Your cool side has more power than the sun.
You pull the tides away
Till the shoreline wants to cry.
You make the shallow rivers run.

I've survived the shipwreck and the sea.
Won't you make the rivers come to me?

 

-jenn long

Did We?

Did we ever go to Mexico
And lie on the pebbled sand?
Didn't we dream of a silver screen
As we slept by the clefted lands?
Or have we never left this red clay bottom
Where we sack cotton
And wish for a better day?

Maybe he was only  lookin
For his lonely cookin mama
To stand bare breasted long enough
To feed his hungry hand.
Or maybe I was finally ready
For a long shore shovelin daddy
To meet my need
And see me as I am.

 
Or maybe nothing’s as it seems,
And all of it was just a dream,
But either way,
I’m still walkin as on air.

 

-jenn long

Nature's Citation

Nature left me a parking citation—

A freshly dropped poplar leaf

Tucked neatly under my washer wiper

For all the world to see.

Embarrassed, I hurried to tuck it close

To my breast as I got in my car.

I closed the door and sat to see

What errors I had committed.

 

My entire life passed before my eyes

As I read the Coptic script—

Years of wasted resources,

Thousands of plastic wrappers,

Seminal emissions spewed on hard

And unworked fields,

And other crimes unlisted.

 

But at the cellular level, I viewed

A vibration of complete forgiveness,

The power of chemical neurotransmissions

That I could only comprehend as a Gnostic,

And the jury’s song beamed faithfully

Like a Hallelujah Chorus

As I smelled the greenness of its life

And pressed the leaf between the pages

Of My Book.

-jenn long

Canni-ballllllled

Too many weirdos have rotted my smile,
Yellowed my disposition,
Stained my brain with illogical meanness,
Bated my breath with their worms.
No dentist can fill the cavities caused
By the consumption of icky sweet souls
That prove bitter in the digestion process
And make one so fat on their terms.

I’ve thought of changing my diet.
I had a vegetarian friend.
She tried to convert me,
But her needless proselytizing
And my constant dissatisfaction left me
Like a bottomless pit.
And one ravenous binge later,
She was gone, too.

 

-jenn long

Dance of the Populus

They're dancing all night,
Tonight in Rio—
The shimmy of cottonwood leaves,
The seductive jiggle,
The eye catching wiggle,
The shine the rivulet weaves.

They're dancing all night,
Tonight in Rio!
They'll dance tomorrow all day—
Shedding their cottons,
Their lofty worldview,
And replicating their own DNA.

 

-jenn long