that's mrs. mediocrity to you

or if velvet could fly

and the way i watched that hawk
yesterday
brushing a new painting
of sky

as i tried to write a poem
that was not about death

and smiled at simple
impossibility

.

.

.

the ladies gathered every evening
tap-tapping with canes and shuffling mules
to talk about the storm that was always coming
and the girl that walked to Seattle
pain always sitting on somebody’s lap
and death on a bench in the corner
pretending to be ignored

no one rose up to kiss away the chip
on a bony-cold squared-off shoulder
no one was afraid and
no one was falling
for the pout on the face of resistance

by this time they were all old friends
acceptance was the belt
holding the bathrobe closed
and besides, thelma told
the best stories

.

.

.

i’m dizzy all the time

and i’d like to say that’s metaphor,
(and it is, a little)

but i can’t seem to stand
in one place
long enough
to stop the spinning

i thought age
would keep me steady
strengthen roots
chart my course

but the world is cockeyed
and ambitious
and i get closer to antique
every day

rebellion is for youth
(or so i thought)

but here i am
(here we are)
fighting for things
i thought already won

and that’s just the way of things
isn’t it?

nothing is certain

we fool ourselves
into new beginnings and lit
lights and the mirage of
equanimity

but the truth is
it’s a never-ending battle
and i think understanding
that one simple thing
sustains us

i grow old on the banks of a river
running circles
around us all

.

.

.

i think that’s what she said while trying to smile
and i never was one to argue with deliverance
even after tilt-shift became a normal point of view

i wanted to hold you
at least your hand
but paper thin skin
kept rising between us

none of us means to die
even when we want to

trying to smile at her own lost joke
fingers scrabbling at the corners
of a crooked mouth gone dry

like the wind i drank
to forget your sky

.

.

.

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month.
No rules this year, just poems. We will see what happens.

you sing me songs of february summer
and i laugh at the absurdity
because
nothing makes sense anymore
and everything

is a tune
from those long ago years
when we believed
in certainty

still
i smile and i dance
at words
spilled from
wist and sunshine

so ripe with yesterday’s
short season of naiveté

when we were young
and you were golden
and i
was just a rose

.

.

.

if i could choose a memory
to hold in my pocket
it would be that chuckle
the little grin
those mischievous eyes
that always spoke of spirit

and i know
you are here
today
in this room

i know
because the echo
of your heart
has not faded

i know
i need only
just to stop
and to listen

and i will hear

tiny butterfly wings
of flutter and grace

fragile and tenacious all at once

weaving tales of love
and remembrance
into the very air

i breathe you in, i let you go

i breathe you in, i let you go

you’re always there
always there

floating

on the iridescent color
of laughter

.

.

yesterday we said goodbye to my aunt, my mother’s twin.

this was written as a tribute for my mom to read at the service.

you will be missed anut pat.
(an intentional misspelling that was part of our relationship)

may you be at peace.

.

.

.

.

sometimes we have to take a step back

before we move forward

remember all the things we’ve forgotten

forget all the answers

revisit

the questions

.

there is always

beauty in life

life in growth

growth in pain

.

the cartography of tomorrow

is drawn from the pen

of present

.

tenacity is the bloom

of survival

.

open

.

.

.

.

there is gold and there is freedom

you say neither one
matters
in the grand scheme
of things

our hands are always left empty

i mention the scars
of experience

the stars

whisper something
of the moon

the way the sun
is always in your eyes

paper crinkled
and satisfied

or beckoning

i’m not sure which

.

.

.

just ask nature, she’ll be happy to let you know
that dance was invented by willows
weeping at winter’s impostor
and stars are made from moans left hanging
on a breeze in the corner of reflection

.

we are all mirrors on the same wall of eternity
chanting hope and charity with leavening

.

this circle this tree this mind mattering
tossed by cold gale and rent from warm earth
growth and decimation occur concurrently
it doesn’t matter where you stand
it doesn’t matter where you stand

.

darkness always returns
as does mo(u)rning

.

.

.

.

snow falls gently through a sky bleeding sunshine

through the closed door i hear geese
warming their way through a morning
most of them will survive

i cling to small things. moments, really
and wish i could gift them to you

i know a whole list of people with that name

the miracles gather and hover
hoping to land, gently

winter is coaxing autumn to bed
with an ever-changing quilt
of cozy promises

a patch of blue peeks through worn cotton batting

needs no mending

.
.
.