clement in the rain

                                  (who is clement?)

today is the twenty-first of july

and it’s the first day

i have ever wondered

both when and why

at the same time

the wounded are the first to heal

but only because they were the first ones 

                                                        hurt

you can see their little truths

in shuffling feet and

pick- me smiles

half-hearted   underwhelming

too many times overlooked

            too many times

the difference between life and death

        or east and west

almost certainly 

                starts in your head

before it moves to the legs

at about the speed that you’d expect

i spent the last three days

trying to draw the perfect flower

when i started

it was a daisy

now

it’s an iris

i’d feel much better

 if you were smiling

and not just with your mouth

i want to see it in your eyes

beyond affluence

and

                                  influence