Posts for June 9, 2022 (page 6)

once upon a time
she would’ve been the family’s
first college graduate —
long before me

as it happened,
to many back then,
she stayed behind to care
for a mother, father, husband,
then sons, and eventually
a daughter
who would then birth a
first college graduate —
that’s me

cancer would take her
before we made many memories
but images still develop
from time to time,
mental Polaroids of
front porch bean breakings
those old metal granny glasses
wiry hair and gold-toothed smile
her focused gentleness
and mountain abruptness
which kept a family
kept a home

an education in itself, that
when we pass sixty-three
we should be so lucky
to have earned
such a degree

We tried to await the singularity
—Patient and kind—
We were going to upload our minds into the global consciousness and
learn 
forever
Talk forever
Joke
Did you hear the one about the old couple and the Internet?
We were going to spend eternity tracing 
the shape of your 
mind with my mind My 
mind with your mind we
could be insatiable
Together
To know the universe
Inside our infinite selves

But fate was neither patient nor kind 
Yet a joke
Did you hear the one about the widow?
So I will spend the rest of this life tracing
The negative space
Where your mind met my mind
And wondering what it means to explore
The universe
Singularly
Uncertain how it all still feels so
Infinite

Rapunzel enjoyed a room with a view
Of the entire countryside
Books, crafts, and a tabby cat
To keep her occupied
And a once-a-week delivery
Wherein all needs were supplied

Ariel received the convenient curse
Of never speaking again
No banal banter at parties
Or conversations with insipid men
Just nodding in sweet silence
With the occasional sardonic grin

Aurora was blessed with undisturbed rest
Thanks to a fairy’s scheme
While the world suffered insomnia
She lived in a decadent dream
Where she played bass for a punk band
And ate nothing but ice cream

Twelve sisters kept a nightly date
To the hottest soiree’ in town
Each eve, they’d put on brand new shoes
And a sexy, sequined gown
Then they’d drink some bub and hit the club
Where ‘til dawn they’d party down

Snow White thrived in a cottage
Nestled in an unspoiled glen
Surrounded by woodland creatures
And a septet of devoted men
Each with skill, she could employ at will
There was even a comedienne

Every woman was living her best life
Devoid of suffering, stress, and strife

And then…
Along came a fucking prince.

(For Jack Teal, a sailor buddy)

Independence,
it’s lack thereof,
wherein:
                             Jack, hope lost,
his bare feet navigated
on uneven synapse.
After
                              earfuls of drip drip
& time tipped,
his new sheet
ripped by an old corn.
                               Unbalanced slips
of solecisms
known solely to me,
his socks draped
                                in the element Urine

Rain drums broad-leafed tree, memory lock springs open.

A word
on its own is without a face.
Unheard
On its own to decide a fate.
An existential word
Abhorred.

Bodies
Objects that speculate.
Nobodies
Direct lips to seal fate.
The mind leaves itself
Voids.

Can I steal beauty from a strangers eye
To replicate their lifelong flight?
Just a petty thief in the night
A victim of circumstance in broad daylight.

     In   
                    the

            intersection             of    
                                            silence

and  

a                    map of

hunger
you           touch   the sea

                                   of

                       memory

where                   the bloodstream      sang
                   a                     sparrow

              the sky
                                     bolted

           over

        the blackened
                                      house
you     inherited

                                  Your land
                pulses     

                                           the way
time & light   
                shape     water

       pass through           spruce & stunted
                  wind      
                                
~ Erasure of Larry Levis’ poem “Irish Music” 

No one cares the way she does.
Plastic bag filled with snacks,
his calculator, money for new
socks.  Run is over and he’s
on the ground one long 
leg crossed over the other
examining a raw blister.
He’s limp with defeat.
All his fault
for not bandaging it
better, all his fault
his poor performance.
She says blisters are temporary.
It will be better tomorrow.
He rolls his eyes,
looks back at the blistered heel.

low tide good
quarter mile out
to the first wave

a child cries
no does not want
the touch of water

another runs back
toward sand sings
goodbye seasnells

and puddles goodbye
crabs and ocean clouds
and sun I stop stand

there between them
drenched in blue

“Oneing” is a term used by Julian of Norwich in “Revelations of Divine Love”.

With my maxed-out Zoloft dosage and twelve withered houseplants,

I drown out silence with Candy Crush sound effects.

For hours my thumbs swipe themselves sore.