the ecology of Forest C.

a house in the mountains #1

Floorboards creek under every step. Faded walls stained where photos were kept. This can be the office and that can be the den, over looking the forest, the mountains and the clouds when it rains.

Messy writing, scrolled on boxes. Autumn leaves lay in the back bed of your brothers truck.

A lamp fixture sitting on the living room floor, dim in color, you say, "it's only for tonight."

walking home #2

It just rained and the wooden fences are stained dark from something that won't last. The moss is damp to walk one.

Look how the clouds hang low, eggier to see how this love plays out.

On an old dirt path I walk home alone, following the tree line, talking to the buzzing cicadas of a warm summer night.

you #3

Your black faded baseball cap, a casual crown. You wear a earth green t-shirt, on a gray lit day.

Like rain running down birch tree bark; you keep your gaze close to the spray painted broken sidewalk. You wonder when this dead-golden-grass of a damn town, will mean something to you once again.

"Your bones glow," I say. Making your skin glow through the plaid shirt I told you was my favorite. Now you wear it twice a week, casually, hoping I'd see. you.

the parking lot #4

There is an old wooden chair, by a second floor window. In faded forest green, it overlooks a parking lot.

A boy sometime sits in it and reads. When he thinks no one is around, you can hear him crying to himself. The skin under his eyes red. When he walks past others, his smile is kind.

With books stacked next to him of flowers and trees, he looks up and talks to the clouds. From what I can hear, I guess someone left him and never put him back together.

a one gas station town #5

You stand next to me at the, forest line. Your hands in your pockets, like I've come to know, you.

A redwood among pines, it's hard for anyone to catch your eye, but you come to find me.

And I say,"oh... the orange lit night roads look, so lonely from here and I say don't look now, it's just a one bar town. Well the orange lit night roads, they look so lonely from here, don't look now, don't look now."

you come to find me #6

Just past the boulder, draped in east covered moss. There's a dip in the ground hidden by tall green-grass.

I would lay there, under the flowering trees, lost in thoughts of beautiful day dreams.

Watching you from just across the forest clearing I hid in the brush's lavender. A curious fox for a heart, I moved quietly, captivated by the way you held yourself. Your disposition felt, familiar, the way the mountains hold this place in place, a smile on my face, from here on out I knew I was fucked.

I hoped this wouldn't be the only time you'd come around.

clinging to trees #7

i. i wish I could go back, put my hands over my eyes, tell myself not too cry, when I lost you.

you. you started this forest of a fire and now, it has become something, a rainstorm couldn't drown.

and now you have me, clinging to trees, swept away, when all I wanted was to stand by you.

and now you have me clinging to trees, pushed away, when all I wanted was to grow by you.

clouds #8

there are dried up flowers on the table; i've gathered them with all the strength that I have, the rain on that day was so cold that it soaked into my coat.

october 23rd autumn's in the air, hands in pockets were both standing there both scared of what we're going to say, or what we'll never say.

so I say. "look at the clouds that move over us. they're really something, when i'm with you." And I say. "I don't understand why you had to go away, it's been so lonely for me, when you see me and turn the other way."

us #9

clouds move quickly over this place. from second floor windows I can't see past the water towers painted blue. just dandelions under some maple-trees.

Your reflection next to me in sidewalk puddles. I can see your gray sleeves pushed up, on that casual Friday.

its hard to leave this place, but it was even harder to see you lose that smile you had for me, for the summer of 2017.

do red flowers still grow on the pharmacy side? do you avoid that grocery aisle where you told me you were going away? I don't. I talk to the old us, coaching us through the lonely forest of a man you've come to be.

because only you know my favorite book rows. And only you know the places I wanna go. Say we can always be like this, that we'll change for the better, even if it's just a lie. i'll learn how to lose you in my own time.

missing books #10

like empty rows missing books. where books miss missing pages. I'd miss us too much. & would never go back to the place where I lost us.

The Library.

3 circles #11

in perfect balance three arrows live in a circle. next to the number 15. next to the oak orchard on the boulevard where clover blooms. & next to the disc golf course that says your name.