A New Year Poem

I am luminous and measured
as a crescent wrench in whipped cream.
My position is the one that song and dance
and caffeine and the joy of friends provide.
I seek ink and the relief that letters formed
by this liquid give to the page. I climb stairs
daily with a certain fretful if not erotic
grief. I forbid nothing and embrace all.
I step into the snowbanks as though
I will never sink. My language is rotund
and delicate as that winter bird hopping on a stick
in the mouth of a bull.
I've been so wrong that I've come
out the other side. I no longer need to prove
anything to anyone. My teeth were once prizes
worth money as they fell from my face
now I give a week's pay to men
who remove the nerves and hang them
from lockets in their vacation homes.
It takes a mighty wind to clear the air of these
days so I embrace you all as only these words can
make clear. Thank you all, it was a pretty good year.

Love,
Todd