Dear faithful readers, thank you for bearing with me, three poems in a row about my writing, two about my subscriptions. It is with great weight and wonder that I get a new subscriber. Thank you!

When Someone Subscribes to My Poems

From my inbox to retina,
past voice box
to ventricle,
each new signup
moves into my heart.
They rearrange the furniture,
bring a potted plant perhaps,
a stack of jazz records,
change the drapes
stretched over sternum.

A sudden council of
“ilities” assemble-
responsibility,
humility,
fragility,
culpability.
I am asked to raise
my right hand,
pledge again
the solemn oath.

Words are sheep
wanted to be shepherded,
lines are birds
poised for flight.
A pen is a staff
guiding and prodding,
a piece of paper is the sky,
gessoed to receive
light and shadow.

We must live as if
each moment,
how we put ourselves out there,
from parking spots to blog posts,
dearly matters.
We must live as if
there are boundless
beginnings.

I do best to imagine
each new reader,
is as eager as me,
and forgiving
as I aspire to be,
wanting the world
with equal urgency,

whispering
just say it,
say it, say it.