Becoming

 or

Some Truths I Learned Last Time You Were In Town

I 

am several stones stacked

given sentience    

by a Goddess

long before you or your mother(‘s mother)

were born

You were raised in a tower 

of your own design

You have not set your sights

on being rescued

I am several feet too tall but

You, slightly taller than Me

You, are the right height

*

I am a rich tapestry 

woven by my ancestors 

for someone else’s throne room

and the knots in my stomach 

are impatient and stubborn

Your eyes change color

the longer I look at them

*

You were from another planet once

You used to sit on a plateau

and watch the rocks you threw

float helplessly to the ground

(You miss it, but you’ll never go back)

I am from the Center of Attention

I was formed when a supernova of love

exploded

and have since become dense with its absence

*

I am not blessed

but neither are You

*

You come into my house

draped in funeral shrouds

and proclaim me ‘changed’ for noticing

I grew like a Cedar Tree

tall 

right out of the Earth

but it stretched my bones too thin

and I have been easily toppled

You mark time to pass it

or not at all

I let time mark me

*

You are a sofa in the late afternoon

enough for a nap but not 

a full night’s sleep

I am a precarious porch swing

unsure if she can hold her own weight

let alone yours

*

How late would you like to stay up?

How adjacent do you want to be?

*

Do you remember when we were a volcano

when our lives weren’t lives

because we weren’t living yet

do you remember tumbling

so much destruction

out of ourselves

because we could not contain

You were the rock

and I flowed out of you 

as magma

But I have become

a small fishing village

with a traffic light 

and a general store

while you are the same house you grew up in

*