Posts for 2020 (page 180)

at being alone, loved 
solitude’s private refreshment.
Now, all of us             alone, together,  

slip into each other’s cocoons
on Zoom and Skype, FaceTime,
Facebook Live, our spaces  

no longer singular       and unseen,
compete for who is doing isolation best,
who’s most content, whose 

flowers bloom the most, who
takes the greatest photographs
of the most golden 

sourdough bread, whose dog
evokes the sharpest mix
of loyalty and pathos or cat 

epitomizes cat, who has built
the most ingenious outdoor space,
best backdrop from which to maintain  

our incessant unrelenting
connectedness, the genuine 

expression of human lack
of boundaries,  

this enforced separation
has laid bare                                                         

We had many comings and goings at 2938.

The time 5 year old Ricky jumped naked from the tub
to see who rang the bell and met Barbara
our teenaged older brother’s heartthrob.

The time Keith rang the bell to tell Mama
that 12 year old Ricky lay on the road
where a car threw him 10 feet in the air.

The time the milkman stopped mid whistle
as he saw the coon curled by the
milk box hesitating to deliver our milk and eggs.

The time the police brought our older soldier 
brothers home drunk from partying their 
reunion after ‘Nam.

The time Fritz got loose
but came running back with his eye
popped out as we rushed him to the vet.

The time I tried to talk my Man to Do It
on that porch late at night
after too much booze but he chickened out.
Thank God!

The time you cooked a culinary delight
to introduce our folks 5 months before
we tied the knot.

The time we brought baby Heather
home to be baptized at the church
where we wed.

The time I moved in with our 3 month old
and 2 year old while you began a new job
out of state till you found us a place.

That was the last time we crossed 
that porch…Mom and Dad moved
on to Florida and a new chapter.

I
Am a hawk
Sharp eye
Sharp beak 
At business 

But when I get home
The feathers come off
And I scrub myself pink

A nervous,
Frightened little bird.

We sit with a bucket of beans between us,
You on your wooden stool and me on my concrete step.
I watch your practiced hands pinch off ends and pull the string without breaking it.
You snap a few and toss them in the bowl then pass me one with a dark spot.
It is I who have been trusted to hold the knife this time.
With ease, I nick the imperfection and drop it to join its brothers.

We reminisce about silver queen corn, white half-runners, eating more strawberries than we brought in for the pie and a cucumber as big as my five-year old arm.
We must speak of long agos because last week is a mystery to you.
I notice the sun reflecting on your ivory hair and highlighting the white strands in my own.
I wonder when I grew up, and you grew old, and I became the one who could be trusted to hold the knife.

He doesn’t socialize on Fridays,
It took us 5 years to get engaged,
We waivered on children until it was almost too late,
He offered to take time off this week but I declined,
Therapists sometimes experience empathy fatigue, you know,
Her powerpoint convinced him about the dog,
I am not one for routines,
Every now and then I drink too much and dance all night,
He does not believe in soulmates,
He emptied my four drains every few hours faithfully for two weeks,
Every relationship serves a purpose,
He would be sad if I died of course, but he would survive,
He has shown me a multitude of graces,
She takes after me which compounds things of course,
He has reminders for various filter changes set monthly in his phone calendar,
I keep him on his toes,
He keeps my heels dug in,
He proposed in a botanical garden,
That is also a graveyard. 

(after Colleen Chesebro)

feel the energies of the earth swirl
gasp in surprise when the universe plays
beautiful music: it’s time to dance
when life presents joyful news, celebrate
as a drop in the ocean of blessings

as a drop in the ocean of blessings
feel the energies of the earth swirl
gasp in surprise when the universe plays
beautiful music: it’s time to dance
when life presents joyful news, celebrate

when life presents joyful news, celebrate
as a drop in the ocean of blessings
feel the energies of the earth swirl
gasp in surprise when the universe plays
beautiful music: it’s time to dance

beautiful music: it’s time to dance
when life presents joyful news, celebrate
as a drop in the ocean of blessings
feel the energies of the earth swirl
gasp in surprise when the universe plays

gasp in surprise when the universe plays
beautiful music: it’s time to dance
when life presents joyful news, celebrate
as a drop in the ocean of blessings
feel the energies of the earth swirl

https://colleenchesebro.com/2020/06/05/fairy-tarot-friday-june-5-2020/

https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/anapeat/

1 Home Haircut Kit for Dummies
7 Washable Summer-Weight Masks (Fogless Variety)
1 box (30-count) of Anti-Itch Pads for Eyes, Nose and Mouth (Coupon Loaded)
1 Home Recycler for Kroger Plastic Bags  
4^th of July Sparklers (10-Pack) with Durable Flashes of Love and Tolerance
1 large vacuum-packed sack of Perfectly Predictable Days (No Substitutions)
1 bottle (1 gallon) Gorilla Glue for Cracks in Sanity
1 large bag of Gift-Wrapped Hugs
2 Pre-Paid Cards for 7 Zoom-Free Days each
1 can of News (16 oz.) Comment: I will decide whether to open or not 
 
Items Ordered: 10
Comments: Please package in a box large enough for me and my cat to escape to between orders

I look back 
Over my poems

and think

If I changed this
wouldn’t thata sound better
If I moved that
wouldn’t ita looked better

Sometimes I’m guilty
Of getting caught in the rush

Instead of scouring 
Through tiny details
I could obsess over
And I do 
Sometimes

But when those words flow
Smoothing rough stone
Delivering life
To mental drought

…

What a rush
To write in the moment

Night already fell
and my sun-kissed arms reach for the sky.
I stretch my taut body
with the foolish hope of lifting the darkness from the horizon.
I know it’s an impossible task,
but as you note,
I am determined
even when failure is absolute. 

I sense that you don’t love me the way you said you did,
the way I always thought you would:

natural
unexpected
whole

The late-spring humidity 
rests on my unshowered skin.
You head to bed
and I mindlessly flip through late-night television.
The screen flickers
and illuminates my face
with an endless wave
of fleeting images.

I resist the urge to
sleep next to you because
all I can wonder is
if you still desire my clammy touch.

Young love;
that’s how I remember it. 

On Work for Hire release from Tartarus
where Sisyphus rolls his bolder
and Ixion rides the wheel

Bob Kane drops by the Muses’ bullpen
picks up the latest stories
delivers them to the creatives
who promptly forget him

(For Context)
https://www.wired.com/2017/05/batman-and-bill-who-is-batman/