WAR IS OVER IF EMPATHY IS NOW

here is my shoulder. i hand you

this message. hold me in

comfort. see me through these

damn sad days. be my body

and take me for where i’ve been, all i have. all

but shaking shoulders and this piece of paper

and the promise to love through suffer with trembling

fingers writing furiously in an upward spiral into uncertain voids

outside of infinity’s collapsable fold. rough and

unfurling facade; hand me hope like stick

hanging from mouth of hound

half—licked. trust stalled out back on

the freeway. engine rev pulled hard, blew gasket

trying. engine go dead; the brownstone was

under construction again so there was that and no

money for towing the car. but back at the house the ripping up

of carpet ages old was happening: the floor the times the dead weight of

myopia falling out the window into a freight trash

receptacle, all going. the difference between then til

now. right from under big toe, roads go fast with

lifetimes to go. felt the earth move under

my feet. this moving meditation of astrality

specific types of mysticism. branded upon lower back:

empathy forever going upward is what she read. downward

wax drips from wells ancestral edge; edge soft like

cheekbone, popping out like cute like

broken every time you smile as

you roll over onto your shoulder

into morning lights promise. like strawberry rhubarb

jam over burnt toast. the butter of mother’s kiss;

the bass of heart.

Kathryn R. Rieberpoetry