i captured the moment
cupped hand over hand
from what comes afterwards

and you captured the sun's magic on your shoulder
trapped glistening and obedient in soft down

and the warm breeze made the field of grass
bow and pray that it too would never forget

the teacher showed me sketches he had just finished:

undulating horizontal layers of sand and earth - purples, blues and pinks -
a pastel landscape punctuated by pillars of green and deep brown

impossibly thin lines of infinite blackness defined
the vertical spaces made of flesh and bone, life and death

if you listen very carefully,
you can hear the universe being born

katherine

Katherine walks out into the common room -- eyes wild, pupils inflamed with fire and anger -- seeing what others deny.

Her swollen breasts lay on her equally swollen belly. On her dark belly, an even darker line marks, "This is where life starts over."

Following a script no one else can read, she moves like a shadow across the room.

She walks around to my back. With a delicate finger she utters and burns a curse against my skin as horrible as death.