28 June 2020
For twenty-six days
I will have two grandchildren
twenty-one years old.
Even they think it’s crazy.
For twenty-six days
I will have two grandchildren
twenty-one years old.
Even they think it’s crazy.
Property for sale,
About 200 acres
Good land for dirt and flowers
For dreams and growth
Old farmhouse in the corner
Falling in the creaks in the floor
It’s a fixer-upper
It’s a visual aesthetic
Of a time and place
It’s a thought
Of 100 years ago
From the found pictures upstairs
Were these people happy here?
If I had to guess, I’d say no
It’s a trap with cat tails
Coming through the bathroom window
It’s a trap with snakes lounging In the old couch in the front room
Return the favor for me
Dare the moon to turn away
Feel the sun burn behind your eyes
Hide away, like clockwork
and watch as the winds shift
You’re just too melancholy for me
She shrugs
After a brief pause
She admits
That ending our decades-long friendship
Probably isn’t helping
for Hazel
for all the known reason, ritual broken,
heart too,
such a simple roller coaster summer,
hay bales a-gleam in the pastures,
picnics on the lawn, good time
to be in a small country town
but
no fair is no fair.
I shed my skin today,
bared my most fetid wound to
the sun, so it might disinfect, but
all you saw were the tears
and mucus on my face, which is
nowhere near the injury site.
what I said
you didn’t hear
deafness and lost hearing aids by aides
made my words unclear
what I said
you didn’t hear
94 years swallowed cognitive abilities
what I said
you didn’t hear
because you were far away
on the day I prayed in silence
please fall into the final sleep
with nary pain or peep
every day I hope you knew
the I love you mama words
I shouted like a mute to the world
but today I hope you hear me
say thank you Mother for dying
on Independence day so I won’t forget
and before this COVID19 shit hit
I can’t imagine social distancing
from someone I love
who was going to die anyway
one of those days
who didn’t want to leave her family
without her family
were rapid waters through my mind.
The only love I’ve ever known
was simply a masquerade ball.
The only lie I’ve ever known
is everything so far.
the rains return
to quench your dried up soul
and mine
hearts parched
hardened from a winter without warmth
cracked from a spring without rain
heavy clouds darken the sky
as heat sizzles between us
lightning signals imminent danger
each year we try to break this cycle
find other relief from our droughts
but our nature can’t be defied
a raindrop falls
trickles down my face
you trace its path with your mouth
the summer storm
nourishes the barren land
returns us to one another
