avalanche (of antique books & fear)

avalanche (of antique books & fear)

(eve)

i dreamed of antique books

book jackets & spine conditions

i ran my finger beneath the book collector's

comments about the quality of each book

& my bones returned to you

giving me a book bought out of love

& handed to me in cold darkness

as you told me about your brother

keeping your childhood home immaculate

polishing the wooden floors into mirrors. . .

i carried you on my lips & inhaled

reaching to hold but never letting go

(day)

i am afraid

of avalanches

but that isn't true

i am afraid

of the possibility of avalanches

but that isn't true either

i am afraid

of causing an avalanche

that possibility

not of being buried

under the sliding snow

(that i would deserve)

but for all the innocent

villagers who never saw it coming

my avalanche sparked by saying it

loud enough to move banks of snow

spoken shouted cheered

because the truth can often be like that