SageGreenJournal.org voices out of the West, mostly poetry, personal to planetary...
Laurie James
Salida, Colorado
Laurie James was born during a Montana January blizzard to a one-eyed man and a one-thumbed woman. The inspirations of her poetry practice flow from the great western landscapes and backroads she travels. Laurie is a 44-year resident of Salida, Colorado, where she spins life's metaphors in the view of a lone pine and the wide-open valley sky.
A Conversation
by Laurie James
What is the weight of moonlight, I ask.
He frowns across the expanse.
What? He exclaims. Light has no weight.
Au contraire, mon ami ... You sure?
'Cause when I stand in the glow
it sure feels gold-heavy and leanin' hard.
That's just crazy, he says.
Crazy? Try it. It must be all that
emotional push and pull.
And that must weigh something.
That's force, not weight. That's gravity.
He replies smugly.
Oh, and sorrow, sorrow weighs more than moonlight.
What? he chides.
Sorrow erodes us. It eats away much like rust,
layer by layer, devouring us.
Only something heavy can do that!
What does sorrow have to do with moonlight? He asks calmly.
Don't you see? They both diffuse the heart.
Scatter it until we become invisible.
What? He stammers.
I smile, but he does not see me. I have become invisible
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