Moss is not just a carpet, a pillow,
a hidey-hole for mice. Not just
a whisper of spring green
against decades-old bark
catching only the light it needs.
It is witness that today at least
there is moisture enough
on our parching planet,
that life yet thrives
in the furnace that burns here
that for now green still
gladdens nature’s palette.
What do you do when the decibel of the
2-year-old’s screaming
Makes your brain quiver.
Invite your old college friend,Captain and Diet,
for a pool play date
And give the 2-y-o candy…..lots of candy.
When her parents show up to collect her and ask
“How’d it go?”
Simply reply, “we had some friends over
and the day went great!”
What happens here stays here.
Note to self:
Buy lots of ice cream for next time.
Brain freeze is an old and trusted
grandparenting tool.
they removed the heart
of their homeland
by aligning with conformist hate
hate of all who disagreed
with their twisted views,
hate of what had made it great
rationality was left behind,
as was freedom of speech–
those who dared, even once, to speak up–
roughly thrown out of the gate
it was an evil system created to destroy
the heart of a people once free–
now, like lemmings, they march into the death machine,
while those still living watch and wait
Two strangers,
from a small town.
Chatting in a café,
near the gate.
The plane departs in an hour.
He looked at me,
so peacefully.
This rough,
tattooed man.
Little did I know,
he’d be dead in a week.
He had made up his mind.
Today, I am still grateful,
he said goodbye secretly.
Before his airplane took off.
This time,
without me.
What are you doing in there
with the door locked?
Who were you before you had us
& are we what you wanted?
Who were you before you met
& who were you looking for?
Did you find that person
or someone else?
Your scrapbook, Mama,
full of photos of you long before
you met Daddy, like the one
in front of an old cantina
with tumbleweeds on a dusty street,
you smiling at the camera,
who took those photos?
Who made you smile like that?
Tracing veins in the waiting room floor.
a prayer seeps from me and sublimates.
Being in the OR is so much simpler
than sitting here, tending catastrophes
I bet you’ve never had so much money at once in your life!
A woman’s face aglow from her phone.
Tinny laughter from its tiny speakers.
I withdraw my earbuds conspicuously
trying to model good behavior.
You can’t wear white lace to a wedding. Are you on crack!
I keep my music low, so I’ll hear:
“Williams family, come to consulting”
I dawdle with Wordle and other games,
my nervy supplication steadily dripping.
I know it! I swear she could get lost in a round room.
I finally understand that you have no intention you alluded loosely to that fact you might quit but not now
when you are high on street drugs or Suboxone your voice is kind soft pleasing
when you run out & start coming down it’s hard sharp unkind you say things that hurt causing you to leave abruptly
is that why you can’t go back to the shelter for 90 days? was it your edgy sharp arrogant self-righteous tone? nobody wants to deal with that
when you call from a rehab & have that sweet tone the old you returns & I hear hope but it doesn’t last long you don’t give it time to work because you say the people around you are not a fit.
