A List of Air

A List of Air - For Anyone Who Struggles

Just been thinking about

things that make me breathe again,

like opening a forgotten window

in a house that thought it was empty.

a dog's head glimpsed from a moving car

tongue lolling like free-flying ham,

a meat flag of joy

flapping in the democracy of wind.

the purr of my cat

pressed to my cheek,

like a tiny motor

telling me without words

'not today, not this way.'

'You. Are. OK.'

and the hug,

the one my child gives me

every day

without a prompt,

but with enough love

to locate and lift the Cinco Chagas

back out of the sea.

I wonder how I got so lucky, again

I wonder why we forget sometimes

what saves some of us,

until we remember again.