Whit Leyenberger

They say that an infant’s entire connection to the world lies through their mother.
My reality, my universe
We outgrow that soon enough though.
But perhaps the lasting effects of this bond
...

You have whatever it is
That makes the stars
Decide to radiate their tiny
Pins of lights into the
...

When you left you took my sheets with you.
You took the spice wheel, my Chinese takeout place, most of the better friends
and, with any luck, two or three biting remarks cast at an already closed door.
Leaving refugee picture frames cradling smiles of illegitimate children.
...

Her fingertips felt like topographical maps of the Andes
pulling slowly through hair suspended in water.
My roots were in Peru and my soul was in my skin.
I needed to know how she breathed among the clouds.
...

I watch the fireflies
Constantly refreshing constellations
Tracing the slow paths they follow
Combing the air for affection
...

Without you here I cannot have you.
Minds replace absence with memories,
inconstant images reeling on a sepia screen.
And as remembrances fade
...

I hope that at the end of my wanderings;
When my body is just a body and my heart
four valves, the tiny men in big glasses who will crack
my head open to see what's inside will be utterly
...

Close the blinds,
don’t let it be morning
light indisputable
tearing you to today
...

What is that feeling?
Only found in the shade
Of a good climbing tree
With that breeze blowing in
...

When I look at you I have to laugh
It just all seems so ridiculous
So unplausable that we’re here
It’s that glowing impossibility
...

i have spilled my jellybeans

small hands slipped
jar rushing meets
...

And I’m writing.
And it isn’t going well.
As I’m sure you know.
And I’m listening to a genius’ symphony,
...

Your first love, fueled by educated innocence,
Burst new into ionized air consuming all:
Awaited discovery sprinted past blurred doubts, pulled
Straggler hands gasping in tow. Imagine my surprise.
...

When I die it is my wish
That my remainder be packed
Into fireworks and released
Screaming into the night sky
...

Love in the early afternoon
Lazy and gentle intimacy
as clear light trickles through cotton curtains.
Quiet and slow laughter of bodies with bodies.
...

What a desperate act a poem is!
Words can’t help but convolute
You are not any thing, but a liquid mosaic of all things
in greater and lesser sums kaleidoscopic purity
...

You are going to die
I know it’s impolite to talk about but
you are going to die
...

If you would believe anything
Believe in declining realities
Living in snatches and glimpses
nothing is not held like water
...

I have nothing new to say to you,
For what humanity is there left
That hasn’t been pinned down and preserved
Like a beautiful and delicate insect
...

Falling asleep in Indiana
Burning up the interstate in my dad’s little red rocketship
The pavement’s shimmer melding with the blaze of stars above
as the horizon blurs into a mist of darkness and yesterday.
...