POTENTIAL ENERGY (2005)

Let us awake this summer morning
  to the reservation of dawn.
And before we are able to comprehend motion
or time, we’ll measure the distance and
space of a fallen dew drop,
Hesitate before the sun exhales, and then
step into its crepuscular rays of direction
(split the sky vertically;
split my progression laterally)
The trees are vying for that same radiance
of resting potential—even now we still fail to realize
that both motion and time are centripetal.
The exchange of our walking language is
a sublimation of the truths we wade through
made into a fresh energy—defying gravity
amongst the clouds.

On a park bench the physics return to me—
a blue canopy made empty except
for the tanning interaction.
You are my equal
You are my opposite.
One dandelion seed separates from its stem
and despite the hushed wind
it will not rest.
I am the mass.
You are the acceleration.
Who is the outside force?