OPENING UP

Opening up
to tendrils of clouds

in epiphany absences
of escorted souls

lost on blind dates
of calendar blackouts

in dream sequences
of life departing as an anchorite

finding a love letter
in a prayer closet back East

next to the Russian
abandoned tea room

where fortunes are made
with chocolate cookies

by dying faultless
on lingering sleep houses

until your free dream
turns into daily nightmares

of ocean liners sinking
or war's landmine fears

or your future poetry's double
is not a spouse showing up

we will be optimists
not matter what prognosticators

say about the rain or snow
in the forecast.