2 Hours before Dawn

by Carol Shillibeer

the blade of the milky way
sky's skin seeping darkness
and raw, the coming
sun cut-lemon
against stripped
mountain fingers, tottering
stars, fall
head first into the rocky horizon
and all this, all that we share
just a momentary unhappiness

advice given to baby

by Carol Shillibeer

Oh love, sing the wide sky.
Curl back and arch, press
your ribcage into clouds.
Leave a dent in the deep
white. Pinch the green
world between elbows;
click your shoulder blades;
tick, tick, tick, bone time
and snap throat cords, and belt.
Do not live silently