I am tired of connecting the stars,
Telling stories across the night sky;
My soul is hard enough to maintain
Against the unrelenting onslaught.

What did he say? and what about her?
They all speak at once, demanding
What I must define myself against,
That I justify my self to their limits.

The sea is a dangerous place,
Yet, so is the shore; jagged rocks
Flash through surf like wolves through flesh.

I seal myself within this sarcophagus
Of talk, my tropes, my clichés,
And cower beneath the untamed stars.

(February 2011)