Similes

unexpected and sudden, or else hard-won
it’s like a full moon on a cloudless night
like arriving home after a long journey
the way the sun pierces when storm clouds break
like rain after a drought
like a stalactite cavern first revealed by lights
like bringing in a crop
it’s the tug on the line when a fish bites
a bird that starts up at your passing feet and lifts you away on its back
like finding a new way to look at a blackbird
or like stout Cortez (or do I mean Balboa?)
it’s like a meal prepared with heart, when not a pinch more spice is needed
like laundry fresh pressed
like getting just the gift that you wanted
it should be like meeting a twin
a chance encounter with an old acquaintance, travelling the same road
a first love re-met
like a squalling newborn, still grey with vernix, placed on the breast
how a smile of agreement feels, from a speaker of a distant language
it’s like forgetting what you had to do
like telling the boss that you quit
signing on the dotted line
mixing the precise matching shade
it’s the proof to a troubling theorem
like the moment you stop beating your head against the wall
like the retch and ejection after nausea
it’s like slinging a bridge over a great divide
like finding a trapped survivor
like news that the parties agree to a truce
opening a sealed frontier, when the armed guards step back
like a consignment of aid pushed from the belly of a transport plane
like a few moments together when the guns fall silent
but it’s also a crazy impulse to throw stones at troop carriers –
now where is that stone?