intense presence

“The persona…is the individual’s system of adaptation to, or the manner he assumed in dealing with, the world.” – Carl Jung

she felt an intense presence

sitting at the edge of the crest

she saw many shadows in

that glassy smooth white sky

she felt a knowledge of the real

and sensed the only imaginary

she experienced a pressure

not to perform but be in the moment

she felt moments of a person

moving behind that staged mask

adjusting, transitioning herself

to a fantasized expectation of self

she felt him moving to build and

take on what was there and then perhaps

push beyond, for,

the intense presence was only imaginary

Julia

i had you, Julia.
i had you, and then

i lost you.

you were a vision, apprising
a mere mortal

like me.

a young woman marking the terrain
of her given reality.

all for you,

the salt-kissed fair ringlets,
the perfect curve of your areola

oh Julia.

you bewitched me with
your hasty enchanted absence

like a stranger.

that night you were there,
by morning, you were gone.

i had you,
i had you, and then

i had lost you.