Posts for June 5, 2025 (page 8)

Without pause,
the collie shepherd nudges
the front paw of the boy cat.
He growls,
then leaps into a saunter
toward the basement
of my kitchen table.
Now, the mutt leans
against the window,
breathing heavily.
She is thirsty,
drool gathered
around her blue ball,
but not hungry.
Her eyes, this morning,
have not made the journey
from bowl to me.
She is cool,
and I am casual
about her placement.
The livingness in her movement
plucks my exhale.
These days, I am stagnant
without the cause
for breath.

fireflies are out
blink-beckoning
cool air rises from the creek bed
feel it twine around your workday ankles

sherbet sky darkens to naviest blue
Venus sends her greetings
June night unfolds
all frog song and honeysuckle and starshine

come with

Refusing to forgive is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die
but what if he does die, maybe just this once, isn’t it worth it to keep trying?

You can’t let it stick to you, gotta let it roll like water off a duck’s back
but what if I’m less duck-back and more soil or swamp and I’m supposed to hold water?

You are what you eat
but what does that make me if all I’ve ever swallowed has made me into hunger?

Honor thy father
no, not until he honors me back

I spent the better part of yesterday
attempting to unmarry my spilled coffee
from the pale carpet beside my desk. 

A careless stretch of my arm 
wrote their union, yet elbow grease 
and soaps could not erase it.

The ink would not blot out,
would not annul nor offer divorce,
only separation, a small break.

            They sleep in different rooms now,
            the odor of chemicals lingering too
            much like the perfume of another.

I am squeezing every ounce of juice from the orange
so that, later, I can drink and know that is all there is to taste,

licking the salt from every almond so that
the bitterness stays with me and not my boys,

obsessing over drops and shapes of ink so that
someone else will know exactly what I had to say,

lying like a dead man in my bed
so that I can breathe tomorrow.

My body climbed a hill 

Your smile:
          as warm as a lover’s embrace
   Welcome as a delicate drop
         of life-giving water
Is my peaceful refuge in this moment

When my soul absconds away from its earthen tomb,
When my flesh decays, and my bones are laid bare, 
I will still be here 

I will be the echo of a shout of glee caught in the wind, 
I will be the four leaf clover nestled atop the bunch, ready for plucking,
I will be the double rainbow boldly coloring an angry gray sky, 
I will be the second soda can that falls from the vending machine, 

I will haunt you with little treasures and trinkets,
I will leave a wave of luck in my wake,
I will surrender my soul to stay a little while longer,
To force your muse to show up when you call to her

I will go beyond the ends of this earth, this realm, this reality, 
To ensure you never know a day devoid of love

And when you no longer need me,
I will succumb to the final forces pulling me apart,
Let entropy embody me 

Natasha,