**This poem was composed based on my reflections during a workshop called “Undoing Patriarchy and Unveiling the Sacred Masculine” at the Brooklyn Zen Center this weekend. **

stone silence
warmed by depth of earth
firmness
beating heart rested softly on steel

He held me in honor
caressed me against the grain of manhood
like we did as boys
playful
testing boundaries
while holding each other up

climbing towards the sun