Posts for June 22, 2021 (page 6)

Category
Poem

Distance

The summer wind stirring leaves above 
sounds like applause.

Arms raised, I am 
victorious for one moment
having survived this long long life

Behind the skull
Cell memory
Instinct
fear always seeks a gap
towards the back of the line

At my heels a strained unfolding cloth 
leaks fraying tenacious threads 

And in front of my tongue an unattainable 
nectar beckons in teaspoonfuls
of sweet Justice. 

Do you know the taste 
of the risks 
we take, hurling madly with ignorant desires
onto these unmitigated shores? 


Category
Poem

2:30 a.m. Prescience

Poetry captures
a moment,

but this
is not

recollection–
this is

not now,
not then,

this is
merely

— — —
glimpse
— — —

a half-remembered
not yet

belief
wrapped in hope

swaddled
by sleep

held close
in the dark

an infant
inkling

into which,
the universe is

waiting to breathe
first breath

a heart
beating

within the walls
of my heart.


Category
Poem

untitled

A heartbeat is propagated,
displaced, and vaguely warped.
A tempo in some ambiguous transit.
 
My body entangled in a timeline,
twists up in delicate sailors knots
tied and invisibly barbed.
 
It all occurs somehow
concurrently.
 
My esophagus ensnared
in some distant frame.
Another life has become
my detached deja vu daydream.
 
Parallel to this ongoing existence
is a me that is no longer me.
Our teeth chatter in synchronicity.
 
The throbbing intervals
of that magnetic metronome
bewitch us both.
If I could reach her from this now…
I’d untether her from that moment,
releasing the excruciating repetition
of that timekeeper’s tick-and-tock.
 

Category
Poem

Thank God It Rained Yesterday Because I Did Not Feel Like Watering the Flowers Today

Taking a day off work is often
the best decision I’ll make in weeks.

There will be little planning for that day
(save for a few small tasks and errands)

so most of it will be spent, sitting in my chair
with favorite foods and maybe a little day-drinking.

There will be naps–long apathetic naps–
complemented by Youtube and mobile games when conscious. 

I do make sure to get some writing done
as my active healing mechanism

but I do place immense value
in seeking out this passive healing state.

This week is special ’cause I’ve been asked to dogsit
so I took today off to laze about with the dogs.

The owners also wanted me to water their flowers, if needed.
Their flowers are beautiful but there’s so. Damn. Many. Of them.

Try to text me today and you may not get a reply.
Recharging is less effective if I keep giving myself away.

This is my time for receiving from myself
my own love multiplied by solitude.

Not that I would want every day to be like this
as there are always tasks that need to be done

(a perk of the dogsitting is free laundry
so I’m going hard on the clothes cleaning)

but I’m able to get those things done at my own pace,
a huge benefit to living alone,

and sometimes, I do find I want another person in my day.
Consider yourself special if I disrupt my solitude for you.

It’s not an attempt at being selfish or self-centered,
although it can easily become that,

but rather it’s knowing myself well enough
to know when silence is the best medicine I can take.

This day is precious to me because I’m allowed to lay about.
Tomorrow, it’ll be back to work, better because I have healed.


Category
Poem

Quaker Ladies

bluets sprout in moss
dappled sun—
heavenly bower


Category
Poem

Chocolat

Gooey s’mores ooze
elegant truffles coifed and boxed
foiled Hershey’s kiss.


Category
Poem

my coming out story

in the shadow of mt caramel baptist
and saturated in summer,
these wild berries almost tasted truth.
i whispered it away
and let go
like a child losing a balloon at the fair.
such a beautiful moment,
teeming with life and excitement
on the backs of bugs and butterflies
in “just some random mud puddle, y’all.”


Category
Poem

Expressways

He knew the way to the bridge
in the thinning marrow of his bones.
A steel span jointing
a confluence of human effort.
Don’t
look down.  
Just listen to the concrete creating
songs where the friction
of air/rubber/asphalt vibrate
blood vessels and howl—
A newmetal ecotone
for failing flesh.


Category
Poem

Stay Zany

do the tandem tango
get unstuck from guardrails

cut short long questions
start art without scissor 

stray away from the cloud
float in a boat on the loose

let orioles listen to you whistle
bet against the old goats

avoid gratitude on sale
grease the skids with geese poop

kiss the kids
kiss the kids again 

pop pompous balloons
unlist all dos and don’ts 

wear wool socks
leave keys in car

etch words on maple leaves
read them in the rain

never strain a dog
pull the buckett from the well

be naked at noon
& crawl around your garden

rehearse Milton’s verse
let’s make a heaven of  hell


Category
Poem

I am

When I was twelve I learned here were people
who didn’t like me because of my religion
I learned the stereotypes I was supposed to fit
and all the ways I would never be right
Because
I don’t have straight, blond hair
that doesn’t frizz when it’s humid
I don’t think pork bologna on white bread
with miracle whip is food
I don’t believe I need salvation to
avoid eternal damnation

In your mind I am doubly damned
by the twin curses: Judaism and Lesbianism

I am who I am
I do not care if you hate me
I am who I am
I do not care if you judge me and find me wanting
I am who I am  

I love who I am and I won’t allow
your vitriol to destoy me

I love who I am