once

                                        for my children 
 
                 i held you in just one hand 
running changeup hidden behind my baseball glove 
  

your quiet ways 
loud as high summer sun 
 
            i spread a gingham blanket those days 
            & watched your sun burn cross the sky 
 
                 inside me is a stone cathedral 
carved by your chirping chisel 
 
down its deep stairwell passage 
              past the pith & peel 
 
i have no glistening jellied womb 
                 but once  
 
once i held  in 
just one hand 
  
 	your soft  
                       soft bloom