All It Takes

Enough dancing alone (except for shadows)
on a hardwood floor the entire afternoon,
naked (except for socks).

Enough answering letters in your mind,
with an impossibly emphatic flourish
of salutation and valediction.

Enough abrupt decisions
like jackets yanked from doorknobs
on the way down narrow stairways.

Enough blaming those decisions
on the neighborhood dogs
who only bellow their own domestic discontent.

Enough solitary walks, and rocks
thrown boldly at the gathering dark.

Enough stopping to stare, wide-eyed
(but perhaps not open-mouthed),
at the rook-delighting heaven.

Enough insects muttering
“life is here” at the stars.

And, finally, enough arriving,
suddenly face-to-face
with the black mare,
under a silver moon
in the jasmine-scented garden.

Tim Hawkins has lived and traveled widely throughout North America, Southeast Asia and Latin America, where he has worked as a journalist, technical writer, communications manager, and teacher in international schools. He currently lives in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. His writing has appeared in numerous print and online publications, most recently in Blueline, Four and Twenty (http://4and20poetry.com/2011/06/14/four-and-twenty-of-the-week-june-14), Iron Horse Literary Review, The Pedestal Magazine (http://www.thepedestalmagazine.com/gallery.php?item=14819, and Shot Glass Journal (http://www.musepiepress.com/shotglass/tim_hawkins1.html), and is forthcoming in The Midwest Quarterly, and Verse Wisconsin.