the palms said:
love can be hope
love can be solitude
but i have to be love
rest, you do not have to be love today
love can be hope
love can be solitude
but i have to be love
rest, you do not have to be love today
say what
you mean
&
mean what
you say
please &
for the
love
of God
ask for
help along
the way
whispers of yesterday’s burn stain my cheeks pink
the hazy morning glow of sunshine catching
dappled flecks of green through my squinting eyes
golden light cascading through my windshield
the cleanliness of my wiped-down dashboard illuminated
white exterior sponge-washed and doused by may’s scattered storms
glovebox emptied of all articles once lost or recently found
the salesman at the run-down car wash threw me his pitch—
“leather seats need conditioning, ‘else they’ll lose their shape”
but i haven’t had the heart to erase your moulded frame.
There is this parallel
That I know–
One that has to exist
Rises in the morning sun
Lay in the thickness of glistened frost
Across the mountains
Weighing heavy
On our small town shoulders
When the bite of the 9-5
Snarls too ghastly
We get that tug
In the pit of our stomachs
Calling from the depths
Beyond the twinkling star dust
From a place, somewhere else
Where time is tilted
Where my heart and soul
Shift and yearn to live
Again and again
Sometimes it’s that 3AM warmth
That comes subtly from
Mourning of the geese that fly
Over the meadowlands
Where the sun touches
His soft, red curls
As your father laughs
While he plays amongst the forget me knots
Just knowing is enough…
Holding me steadfast
Earthside, this peaceful entanglement.
Fish swim round
Their tabletop home
Amidst notebooks
Mail bills candles
A table for guests
We sit down to eat
Food comes and goes
The carp are never hungry
We talk, plan, and visit
Greeting cards, on display
Eventually leave
Porcelain fish remain, swimming
No pay
Long hours
Sunrise to sunset
Most days my son joined
So when I was fired
And he couldn’t come to the office any more
He asked why
What happened?
There wasn’t much to say
“You were loved every moment you spent in the office”
There was no need to explain that
Loving her was the best job I’d ever had
Now I pick up work here and there
But I’d rather no pay
And let my son know
who I spend time with
This land we occupy isn’t ours
we strut, love, birth, steal, glean
even kill
here
not owning
but breathing borrowed air until
it’s payback, pay-up time
we pawn
water
trees
mountain tops
billion-year-old fossils
don’t stand a chance
with us!
children of galaxies
we drag our toys around this
stage like the sandbox of time will not shift
isn’t all energy star born?
if this is Earth 1.0
what if there’s never a
2.0?
weightlessness watches our antics
creates chaos with cosmic
sighs
pokes us with tornadoes
scrubs with tsunamis
seaquakes
molten lava seeping
through tectonic veins
listen, listen
My friend had a dream:
We were in the shower together.
I was scared. He held me.
The bathtub disappeared, and we fell through space.
In mine, I watched as an ex frantically gathered fallen strands from his purple knit sweater.
I couldn’t help him quickly enough to ease his pain.
This is to say that,
like the mind,
love and compassion don’t idle.
