natural as

i am no fool.
i know that those things we feel
are not unique to us-
chemistry has rhythm and rhyme-
natural as a -
and as mapped out as a
table of elements--
columns of caresses
periodic and cyclical
the ebb and flow
the pulling in and pushing away
as known as the way home
or the address of the house where you spent your formative years.

A home in a million places
formed from a million mothers and stand-ins
needing them all; rejecting them all
being needed by them
being rejected by them
and I know I am a home
now, too

but i am no fool

there is the beginning of knowing
and then the aftermath of undoing all the assumptions

a move toward seeing as is
without the distraction of long lashes
without drunkenness from kissing new breath
without the judgement of slowly accumulated resentments
to see as is
and as is always shifting
changing moving toward some new development
a catastrophe or renewal
waiting at the end of
each calendar week
or month
or year
or hour

knowing full well that none of this has much to do
with me being me or you being you

that this deep breath
this shipyard knot
this one face in a sea of other blurs
is unique to me and shared by everyone.

i am no fool.