I saw the possum lanterns
You could see them lights
Come swinging out of the mountains
They gathered us all up
In a mountain sweep
Took us to the asylum
Shiftless, they called us
Manifestly unfit
We’d not be released
Until we were sterilized.
They say that the nervous system
Takes over so that you run
To escape
Even if you don’t want to,
But you didn’t run.
You casually walked,
Like a toddler who doesn’t
Have full motor control yet,
In a circle, stopping in front of
A roadside table with a plastic cloth,
Turned to face the street
As if you meant to,
Your feet rooted like fiery trunks
While every other joint waved
Like paper in flame, sparking and
Rising, no voices in the vacuum –
Not even the cameraman spoke
As he stepped back but around for
A better astonished, mesmerizing
Shot, transfixed by sheer horror.
Your reason mattered to you,
I know.
But as you melt joint by joint onto the
Concrete sidewalk soundlessly,
All I know is
No reason is reason enough.
My vanilla frosting
store bought sponge cake
will be served on china,
while
my stale
icing-less box cake
will be brought
on a paper towel.
Less is always given
to that
expected of poor taste,
yet when presented
the same
both are a
five star rating.
1.
First and foremost,
no matter how bad the day gets,
it has to end sometime.
2.
There’s nothing wrong
with making mistakes.
Chances are
someone has already screwed up
the same way you screwed up,
possibly worse,
and they were fine.
Just don’t make any of the big mistakes.
3.
Be mindful of the reality you’re in.
Stressful days may happen,
but if your job is flipping burgers
or stocking shelves
or shipping boxes
or some other mundane thing,
it’s going to be all right.
If there’s not some form of life on the line,
yours shouldn’t be either.
4.
Job security can be pretty simple;
just show up
and do your part.
5.
But be vigilant
for the day that may bring
catastrophe.
Always have a plan to fall back on.
6.
It’s never as bad as you think.
7.
Remember, real life
doesn’t follow your ideals.
When you form a great plan
building toward some success,
something will go wrong
before you’re a quarter
to halfway there.
8.
If you don’t have control
you don’t need to try and control
whatever might be going wrong.
Do your part
and let the people above you do theirs.
9.
Above all, though,
Remember this.
No matter how bad the days get
they have to end sometime.
First thing I remember was asking papa, why
For there were many things I didn’t know
And daddy always smiled and took me by the hand
Saying, someday you’ll understand…..John Fogerty
In this picture
there is no picture
just snow on the screen
where Sugar Ray’s
suppose to be
Mike’s up the pole
hands on the antenna
and Pat hollering at the window
when Gillette’s Boxing Cavalade
appears razor sharp
It’s Friday evening, Dad’s home
We watch the pummeling
the head snap back
the cut above the eye
the rounds ring in and out
Mike and Pat chant Sugar Ray
Sugar Ray Sugar Ray Sugar Ray
it’s the championship match
it’s somebody’s final collapse
Before the k.o.
Mom goes to her room,
overcome by jabs and hooks
she rests on her side
with her hands on her belly
I take her a glass of water
with the faintest idea
of what pregant might mean
The night rustles
with moans and groans
and station wagon sounds
Esther comes over
to look after Kate the tot
On that empty Saturday
my sister Missy gives me
a new term to learn:
miscarriage
Dad looks bruised
when he comes home
to say Mom is alright
he says he held the tiny one
in his palm and saw how
her hand had made a fist
Machine or man be damned
If I find another slug in my bathroom floor
Six this week, and each a
Slight,
With gentle hands and
a select-a-size, diamond texture and anchor design
wasteful, but built for –well, not this, exactly–
waste
We.
Me &
That partner of mine, we show our visitor to the door.
We are careful, but inept.
And as we drop them
gently
in the meadow of daylilies–
that I always remember incorrectly as tigers
–basking in the moonglow garden bed, I wonder
Was it service
to any of us, really?
We have tried so hard to seal ourselves up tight against the uninvited.
He hopes that this is the last time.
I pour salt down every drain.
File not found, refresh
a corrupted condition
portable heartache
Dismissive data
emotional estrangement
megabyte moments
Made external drives
codified coding contains
viral delusions
Moving
from
Positive to negative
The world
A cracked shell lies on the deck.
Did the baby hatch and survive?
Perhaps the storm harshly flung the egg
too early from its nest?
As a mom, I ponder these questions
worried mother bird mourns in the trees.
Her song a haunting melody for madres
who also wanted to give their babies flight
but who now wonder if their niños survive
or die in cages.
