Tenderly

what divides you down your center what sets you reeling into blissfulness what shatters you irreparably
what is your flow to where inside your body do you recoil during full moons who will remind you to
restore the shards of you to wholeness when everyone has been driven away and if these shards of you
could speak would they tell you they would rather not be restored in what fractured language do you
dream when you sleep alone
i have been tenderly cautioned memory is retained in my hair now flowing in heavy black cascades below
my diminishing waistline i have been warned i must take care to worship and guard memory fiercely for
even the most comfortless of these have given me flight

Barbara Jane Reyes
Tenderly originally appeared in Gravities of Center (SF: Arkipelago Books Publishing, 2003).
Poem, copyright © 2003 by Barbara Jane Reyes
Appearing on From the Fishouse with permission
Audio file, copyright © 2005, From the Fishouse