When I think
I’m thinking you
Like a child
Flummoxed by an
Algebra assignment told
That this goes
With that I
Drift instead wondering
Do we and
Not these belong
Together because as
Teaching taught us
We do not
Yet we do
Do belong together
Then like that
Child forced to
Understand it clicks
A times B
Does equal AB
Me times you
Does equal us
When I think
Of that of
Us I smile
And as I
Step slowly into
The cold swirling
Currents atop one
Slick stone then
Another until I
Am thigh high
In uncertainty I
Reach back reach
Forth back and
Forth whipping the
Line and landing
It delicately upon
The surface letting
It hang there
Like my tentative
Hello wondering if
You this you
A shimmering trout
In a river
Of revelers will
Take the fly
And rather than
Run away from
Me instead swim
Closer shoulder to
Shoulder eye to
Eye whispering hi
There fly fisherman
You’ve caught me
Fancy a drink
Ending one circle
Of life and
Beginning quite another
I don’t rely
On inspiration but
Rather upon others
There are and
Have been in
My life a
Very few that
Like a fisherman
Reeling in a
Swordfish allowing it
To struggle and
Fight trying to
Flee and eventually
Caught pull the
Words from me
Like that hook
That I took
In order for
Me to be
And they being
Who they are
Resulting in these
Things called poetry
It is they
That make me
And not me
That make them
The ability to
Choose well is
Not just reserved
For humans for
Like an acorn
Which leaps and
Lands bounces and
Buries we too
Do the same
Into the arms
Of one another
Sometimes sprouting and
Sometimes dying and
Sometimes loving living
Or living loving
And there we
Lay like one
Plank of Aspen
And one of
Ebony like one
Night and one
Day dark and
Light you the
Stone and I
I am your
Splash as you
Skip skip skip
Then plunge headlong
Into me like
I am your
Cool summer lagoon
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 