Michael T. Young

The Ache
 
What lures the hiker out to the woods
and big fields of sky, is a trail of bird song
tucked in the cloud folds, a trace of starlight
 
caught in the stream and covering the shore stones
in a constant shine. It persists in flashing there
long after he trudges on, beyond meadows
 
where the dream that woke him rings
inside the bellflowers. He grips his walking stick,
and travels toward a kind of understanding
 
that claws up through his ankles. It’s something
mistaken for an ache. But after miles
pushing through shade and pine scent,
 
when finally he sits in his cabin, removes
his shoes and leans back in his chair, it settles
into all his limbs with the clarity of a revelation.


 
What It Takes
 
Just our hands brushing each other
and mine flinching, stunned by the recall
of days dating and holding hands
until our fingers went numb. A memory
that resides in our shadows
trailing us all the way through the park
to the grocery store. It sinks
into fading light, the black line
drawn between the life before
and the life after, all we can never
go back to, all the things we share
but can’t put into words, like
when we sit at the breakfast table
and start the day saying,
“last night I had the strangest dream.”



Michael T. Young’s third full-length collection, The Infinite Doctrine of Water, was longlisted for the Julie Suk Award. He received a Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. His chapbook, Living in the Counterpoint, received the Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award. His poetry has been featured on Verse Daily and The Writer’s Almanac. It has also appeared in numerous journals including Lily Poetry Review, Main Street Rag, Sheila-Na-Gig, and Vox Populi.