(1.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
creating hidden avenues
like the river that runs without rest
to where the autumn reds
freeze time in the minds of men<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the dog
plays a tug of war
with his patience
a ways down the path
waiting for me to catch up again<\/p>\n\n\n\n
as I shower
in the dappled light
dripping down from the blue void
through canopies trembling<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and my mind tells me
that red and blue
are supposed to make purple
to make veins
to make dusk<\/p>\n\n\n\n
but my skin only glows
with the color of the sun
as my head collects my steps
to someday
dream itself back there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(2.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and maybe they
who spoke with wooden tongues
in times long gone
would have understood
what that was like<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to be a riverbank<\/p>\n\n\n\n
when not the water
nor the light
nor the wind
nor time
is either dead or present<\/p>\n\n\n\n
maybe they knew
the reason
why snails so gracefully raise their heads
to greet the rain
like they’re taking a bow
upside down<\/p>\n\n\n\n
if not to be a riverbank?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
if not to hark
the words of water
shaken loose
from tongues of sky?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
if not to be dreamt somewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(3.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and perhaps
our time on this earth
isn’t defined by time at all<\/p>\n\n\n\n
but proximity
to one’s self
and all self<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and if so?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
how close did you get?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and how many tries did that take?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and how many times
did you swear
you would never try again?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and how many of those times
were true
in the end?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and do you regret
leaving those parts of yourself
lonely for you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
or did your roots
suddenly call upon them
in unexpected ways<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to breathe light
change colors
and greet the rain?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
yes,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think
how deep do you go?
is a more intimate question
than how far will you get?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
because one implies
we all fall short
and the other
needs nothing more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
so,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
how deep you did you go?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Artwork: Bare, By Ben Heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,6],"class_list":["post-187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry","tag-benheart","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189,"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions\/189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}