Santa Fe Reporter: because the sun will die if we stop talking about it
because the sun will die if we stop talking about it
at least one person, anywhere, at all times,
must have something to say about the sun.
because the world doesn't want us to trust
each other—or maybe it's just too big
a job for the kind of animal we are,
i mean, who would keep track of whose
turn it is, this second, to save us—
there are those of us who simply never
stop talking about the sun.
where, given the season, it's sloping through
the sky, how bright it is, how missed,
how it burns the clouds away. but there's only
so much you can say about the sun before
you miss asking your friends how is your heart,
or making plans to make soup and eat bread.
so we find new ways to speak to and of each other.
the other night while passing marigolds between us
you said look how it shines
tucked between a photo of my grandfather
and a prayer card for his daughter's son. later
i told you how the sun laid down the day
we drove into the desert, and i couldn't find
my breath. you asked if when i woke
did i first think of sunrise, how to dress
for the weather, where to plant a garden?
and i asked, in turn, if the sun didn't rise
would it bring me closer to you?
