i hope my words are strange and wondrous,

like kisses that quiet all things superfluous,

so that we can all stop and

listen

a smile, a look, a laugh, a desire.

a thought, an emotion, a yearning, a quiet.

these things they move and shift,

and they create little ripples

but they don't surface.

they can't surface.

it doesn't seem to be the time.

there are many things waiting,

watching from below,

through the topsy turvy lens of the backseat,

through the refractory lens of the heart.

if you see the ripples,

if you are looking,

wait long enough,

and they will appear.

maybe slowly and gradually, absorbing the constancy of the water's hold.

maybe quickly and abruptly, a piercing through of the calm pretense.

maybe in a spray of iridescent jewels, joyful leaps into the air

maybe stirred up in a stormy circle, sucking it all back in.

but for now,

my heart remains

an unbroken surface.