the ones who fire off a page
I can hear    almost touch    smell

like my lover’s scent gets inside
whose spirit was fleshed: bled    hurt

kept riding its rhythm toward the poem
he heard wordless every waking moment

the rare ones who make me see
in everything that’s flawed    isn’t there

everything they can be    and now are
because they’ve shown me

the only ones worth having--
like breath    must be let go

©2003, Linda Lerner

Most of Linda’s earlier collections were published by Ye Olde Font Shoppe. Her two most recent books are Greatest Hits (1989-2002) from Pudding House & A Koan for Samsara (2003, from Ibbetson Street Press).

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