Thanks to Paige Hankla and Ana Maria Selvaggio, both for giving space at PlayThink
The limelight
undulates purple and red,
featuring
children and hoops
and the opening act of live, local music —
sanctified by fearless joy:
A space
where we all dream to begin.
The young moments where
anything
is possible.
all you see in this world
(other than, say, a meteorite necklace)
is made from something
in a tree
or a tree
on the ground
or in the ground.
that’s it.
people are clever.
we pull it down
or pick it up
or unbury it
and
repurpose it.
this is why
everything is
–already–
“green”
unless it is
a meteorite.
those
are
extraterrestrial.
“…for dust you are, and to dust you will return”. (Genesis 3:19)
It will happen that the time will come
When against all best hopes, today
Will dissolve into watery pictures of
A yesterday now in scattered shards.
Help us reach for our best impulse to
Save some of what is left for the blessed
Hour when the pain retreats with just
Room enough to take first steps.
Icebergs of imprisoned emotion
Endanger even the strongest ships.
We pray for enough warm winds
To bring us back to a better place.
Can you imagine a chicken’s beak just
Slamming through your skull
Like a cannonball through an old wooden hull?
Well there’s people who know science
That say that’s how it was
When dinosaurs were a walking on this Earth.
Well Lord knows I love chicken
And he knows they don’t like me
But they’re too small to be very scary.
But if they were 10 feet tall
Or even 7 feet
What danger they would pose for you and me!
But humans are real smart
And humans all got guns
So if dinosaurs came back
We’d all be eating some!
Golden brown dino chicken nuggets.
It’s the biggest boot that I have ever seen!
And the circles are so massive
And the rectangles are huge
And it’s guaranteed to be tasty and clean!
It’s gooder than hell, and it’s cooked so well,
It would satisfy the Queen.
Dino nuggets are the best for you and me.
But what if they’re all wrong
And dinos are big lizards
It ain’t no problem, cause you know what they all say
Snakes and Alligators
Taste kind of like chicken
If you ask me it’s a party either way!
Golden brown dino chicken nuggets.
It’s the biggest boot that I have ever seen!
And the circles are so massive
And the rectangles are huge
And it’s guaranteed to be tasty and clean!
It’s gooder than hell, and it’s cooked so well,
It would satisfy the Queen.
Dino nuggets are the best for you and me.
Hand buzzer helloing, not brave, many underhat things to say,
Constant stream of bees in bottom, whingy stampede of beef.
Stinging away, flitter of lazy bull, organizing burrs in saddle,
Recollect and concoct twaddle from high school.
Much hollow turtle id, banging meek drum of peewee cracker,
Mushrooms rise from night-soiling ring of flesh, false morel.
Sugaring the account, preparing friend for concatenations,
One fleck of the finger, sore-thumb, proving shady rhubarb.
a knot
and then another
in my throat
and on the fabric
a stitch
and then another
in my side
and on the cloth
a shuffle
and then another
down the aisle
and then another
*a poem about anxiety and being a fiber artist….. one that, at some point, has to grocery shop
Sky cracked open. All day, the water
accumulated like sigh
and my shirt was damp.
I have been trying to survive. In chaos
for a year and a half, the world
and my expectations have failed
to measure up.
It has been a year of pushing and pulling,
of accumulations. When I leave my couch
each morning some kind of flood.
Today, apartment complex management had balloons out.
Perfect, round, and improbable, they bobbed
in the torrent.
I made a phone call and puddles formed
in the parking lot. The radio silent, concentrating,
I was able for a minute to see something
like sun.
somebody said it’s the solstice
and there’s power in the atmosphere
charged up and hanging around
waiting to be harnessed.
will mugwort bath water
give me the strength
to smash the state?
or beat down a million misogynists
in a good ol’ fashioned fistfight?
if i make a real strong batch of sun tea
can i use it to drown the damn man?
i’m too mad for magical alternatives.
and the flicker of a single
yellow candle can’t compare
to my flamethrower feelings.
Supposing we can approach the plan of God
As we die here in our modern chemical soup
Hoping for a cure to all of our infirmities
Grasping at the latest protocols
Wishing it made economic sense to someone
Hearing the wind at the rim of the galaxy
