THE (KIRSTEN) COLLECTIVE

you are my happiness project

your quiet listening
while i chop
red purple onions
into moonslivers

your laughing eyes
squeezed shut
over glasses of ice and limes

your reaching
around my belly
while I pretend to sleep

the way you pour
your skin into mine
even as it wrinkles
before our eyes

you lean towards me
create space
trust my absence
and my growing

you are the leaves
unfolding beside me
in a red dirt garden
reaching for sunlight
entwining roots
breathing light and air with me

in gratitude
i open silent buds.