Naked on Cashmere

She took stampsfrom the drawer in the kitchenher father saw but didn’t saythey droveand she watched out the windowfingering them carefullyin her pockettogether they climbed the grassy hillup to the acorn treestopping at a rockperfectly carvedwith a woman’s name—for a long timeand a careful timeshe looked and thoughtbut never cried.“Papa?”she finally said,“How many stampsdoes it take to reach heaven?”“One will do,my love—“And so,she put one stamp onand placed one insideand left the letterby her mother’s side.xx Atticus@atticuspoetry www.atticuspoetry.com Other poems read today:“Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe“Love” by Pablo Neruda“When Great Trees Fall” by Maya Angelou 

Tell me,she said,about our houseour childrenour gardenabout the lives we will have --but he never couldand it wasn't until she was gonethat he understoodthat she never needed the houseshe only needed the dream.xx Atticus@atticuspoetrywww.atticuspoetry.com

"I dream’d in a dream, I saw a city invincible to theattacks of the whole of the rest of the earth;I dream’d that was the new City of Friends;Nothing was greater there than the quality of robustlove—it led the rest;It was seen every hour in the actions of the men ofthat city,And in all their looks and words." - “I Dreamed a Dream” by Walt Whitman xx Atticus@atticuspoetrywww.atticuspoetry.com

He was a brotherI never had,different than the others,and he carried in his eyesand on his armsthe tattoosand scarsof being famous young,he wore the faceof a starbut all I sawwas a poetdrowningin someone else’s dreamswho wished onlyto sinkinto the quiet seaor fadeinto any painted wall of Brooklyn.xx Atticus@atticuspoetrywww.atticuspoetry.com

"I Have Fallen" by Christopher Poindexter I have fallenin love many times.Have you ever sat in a barand watched a lonely manor woman by themselves,their tired eyes shaken,fixed on nothing butthe glass in front of them?Can't you taste their sadnessfrom across the room?Those people.I fall in lovewith those people.To me there are few thingsmore real.Follow Christopher @christopherpoindexterxx Atticus@atticuspoetrywww.atticuspoetry.com

Somewheresitting on a clouddeep in the skythere is a secret listwritten by an angelthat holdsall the wonderful momentsyour lifehas yet to come. xx Atticus@atticuspoetrywww.atticuspoetry.com

"Hold fast to dreamsFor if dreams dieLife is a broken-winged birdThat cannot fly. Hold Fast to dreamFor when dreams goLife is a barren fieldFrozen with snow." - “Dreams” by Langston Hughesxx Atticus@atticuspoetrywww.atticuspoetry.com

There is an island I knowI shouldn’t even mention—it’s a fairy tale, you seewhere no one wears shoesand no one needs to—the houses are hobbit-likewith grass on the roofsand the food is fresh from a nearby farmevery morning the tea sits steepingon long wooden counterswith toast and jams from local berries—the crickets always crick hereand the birds call, the kindthat make you stop and say,“Now that is a beautiful song”—the sun is hotwithout a cloud in the skyand the beach runs out for a milein silky white sandso that when the tide flows back in the afternoonit heats up, warm as a bath,when it rainsyou build puzzles, and paint, and readand light fires that crackleand smell like cedar saunasand each night, rain or shine,you drink wineand listen to recordswhile you play games—and sometimesyou’ll lay in long grassand chase the stars around the skyheads close together with the ones you love—each day is the sameyou do what brings you peace—and the wildest part of it allis the island is realmy toes are in its sand. O

She wanted to be richand she looked good on a yachtbut I wanted a girlthat looked good by a campfirewith freckles like sparksto stainthe ashy sky. xx Atticus@atticuspoetry www.atticuspoetry.com

Somewherein the great landscape of timethere is a garden growingthe most beautiful rosethat has ever beenand that will ever be -you are that rose,forever to me. xx Atticus@atticuspoetry www.atticuspoetry.com

I have noticedthat all wineregardless of the cost or vintagetastes the same when sippeddirectly out of the bottlerunning naked to the beachunder a fulland summer moon.xx Atticus@atticuspoetry www.atticuspoetry.com

Keep your kingdoms give methe open roadthe stars in the skythe smell of a campfire around the next bendand I will be as rich as any king. xx Atticus@atticuspoetry www.atticuspoetry.com

You and Iare starsmet oncein the breath of a universecrossed only for a momentas the ebb and flowof dust and atoms. xx Atticus@atticuspoetry www.atticuspoetry.com

Today’s reading:On those nights when the thick snow driftsthrough moonlightand the sky looks like falling stars close your eyeslook uptongue out to the gods and feel the cool ash burn you. xx Atticus@atticuspoetry www.atticuspoetry.com

The trees seemed to breathe more at night.There was a freshness in the airlike the world was being born again.Steam billowed from the machineand danced upmixing with my breath.I rode on into the black,leaves scurrying from the tires,startled by this strange one-eyed beast.I always wanted to remember these moments,alone on the roadthe smell of wood-burning somewhere,and wet cut grass covered with tomorrow’s dew.Fast I’d ride,deep into the ghostly night,wind in my face,eyes screaming tears,blurring the sky into diamonds,and my engine,in its symphony,became my silence,a knife’s edge to the numb worldmy blissful blurry road. xx Atticus@atticuspoetry www.atticuspoetry.com

Daughter of mine—for your smiles,for your tears,for your skinned knees,and your broken hearts,for the love you give,and the love you find.For whatever you become,or don’t,it is far too late,I love you already,long beforewe ever meet.xx Atticus@atticuspoetry www.atticuspoetry.com

Have you eversmelled a smellthat brings youinstantly backto a momentfrom your youth?I always loved that feeling.I hope that’s what death isjust sitting on cloudssmelling old smells.xx Atticus@atticuspoetry www.atticuspoetry.com

If I’m honest,very little in lifehas comparedin immensityor magnitudebefore or sinceto the electricand wild feelingof the first timeI kisseda girl. xx Atticus@atticuspoetry www.atticuspoetry.com

You wore a smile and a scarin the front seatof an old Cadillacwe were two kids chasing sunsetsholding on to memories in moments—all the ways you wereI wish I could’ve bottled it upthat feelingdrinking it now thatyou are gone. xx Atticus@atticuspoetry www.atticuspoetry.com

I woke before herand she slept on as the sun rosespilling light across our bedshe was an angel in my sheetsthe girl I would drawif given a thousand yearsand only a promiseshe might one day come to life.xx Atticus@atticuspoetry www.atticuspoetry.com