from a work in progress: “process, not a journey” (14)

forgetting the pattern of fear

and doubt tangled about me

I fall out of sleep and remember

what parts of myself I need

–

to continue some resemblance

of the day the inessential shades

my ghosts as darkly as the essential

each shifts its position evasively

–

when questioned like a cat

slips through shadow and grass

(January 21, 2020)