orion teach me 

string taut between
two fingers--
Orion take aim--
i want to learn
how to shoot a bow
& arrow with the
same kind of precision
as a boy who
wears stars for 
a belt--
zeta, epsilon, delta--
has your anger
diminished over
the years?
faded from
centuries of
hunting or have
you burned yourself
hotter as a body
without a landscape--
you touch me &
my skin ignites 
into dust--
spiral down in
me-- the matter
of the solar system 
is only
a merry-go-round--
a carousel of 
light making bodies--
making hunters--
what beasts
do you aim at?
what lovers?
when you stepped
back down to earth 
& flung rocks at 
my window i almost
didn't recognize you
without all the 
commotion
of the night sky
but it was you
alright-- 
chest bare--
ankle deep
in the snow--
following 
footprints to
the back porch where
a girl 
wrapped in
her green bathrobe
puts out a cigarette
in the stoop
& slips in
the back door
when she sees you--
there's no hiding
the kind of fires
in your hair--
i'm not asking
you to love
me i'm asking
you to teach me--
i want to 
learn how to
pull back the arrow
like you do--
how to fight
scorpions--
how to banish
the cold
from my flesh--
reject ground &
earth--
fix myself
steady 
in the night--
you know i have
been watching
you since the first
time not father
put me on his shoulders
& pointed to
stars-- you
were the first
one we found
& he told
me about
your red giant--
about the maroon
blood star 
vessel bursting
from your arm--
does it hurt you?
do you feel it
when you head in
for sleep--
when no one's eyes
look up &
you can rest--
curled up
at the feet
for bears &
crustaceans--
you can sleep here
tonight you
know? there's
enough room on
the floor by
my bed -- you can
rest here--
take the night off
from all the foot prints
& the ache of
firing arrows
into the 
void mouth of
innumerable monsters--
tell me
orion-- am i a monster?
the kind 
who would feel
an arrow if it
were to be shot
through me-- sometimes
i feel numb--
like you could
skewer me &
i might not notice--
oh please
keep me company--
i'll pull
open the blinds of
the windows--
you can point out
where you usually sit--
the big empty corredor
of stars--
we can take turns
throwing
rocks at windows--
crack glass--
we'll be careful--
we'll get to bed
in time
for you to 
find you way home--
you sit behind me--
take my hands in
yours &
help me pull back
to the arrow--
we aim--