Give me words
and the reply came
in the grinding of a disposal
the trembling of a candle
the murmur of a TV
through a thin apartment wall

it's a cold night
and a downy woodpecker
finds warmth in the
hollow of a broken tree limb

a circle of narrow shoulders
bears the weight of the world
if only for an hour

carvings far from their African origins
confuse intruders -
they cannot sense their target
and wander away in the dark
stumbling on the roots of oaks

molten heat flows through my chest -
words come -
dim reflections
of the powerful shift of tides
the volcanic melting of ice