akimbo

for my friend, Billie Jean James


I see you standing akimbo
astride the desert warp
in red gladiola
stemmed with black boots

your head turns
to the sound of pain
borrow pit
neap tide
leafing tree

I see you
on the first quarter of the moon
riding a flow of words
drifting
gone
and still here

do not wrap that old robe about yourself
and leave us

once we dreamed on paper
swept up in a word dance
you carried us with you
under your red beach umbrella

do not leave us

I see you
gone
and still here


Billie Jean was a poet, teacher, environmentalist, feminist, activist and one of the most energetic people I have ever known.