morning moon

once i was a great horned owl, feather-full, binocular-eyed.

i am the night, but once i was language, camouflaged secret.

once i was the limb + naked wing, a river of light, the dance

which holds the body, the breath. water once ice, all tongue

+ talon, shadow-sound, night listener. i face the east, but once

i was sunrise, the morning moon. i gather the light

but once i was candle, twig-snapped + moss. i can’t leave

the trees, the coming wind. mine is a heavy head, though

once it was turquoise song. more than once a magnolia prayer. i held

the heron’s gaze. the river held me + the hawks circled + the lily

bloomed for one day only + the star left + the moths gathered

in my hands. it is dark, but once it was darker, the galaxy spilling

across the sky. once i slept in the woods + now i am chrysalis.

i am inside, but once there were no walls, only roadside flowers,

crystals sold out the backs of vans, a trail through wild blueberries,

trees waking the sidewalk, a robin’s egg on red dirt. i feel

like a list, but once i was born. once i was born, i kept being born.