Error of Margin
Where is the space between work
and sleep? These days I find it dim
-inishing, dwindling, into nothing.
“no new things” I said of this season
yet they keep cropping up
like bad mushrooms
shrinking the space for play
Where is the space between work
and sleep? These days I find it dim
-inishing, dwindling, into nothing.
“no new things” I said of this season
yet they keep cropping up
like bad mushrooms
shrinking the space for play
It felt like the air was falling down
I watch my country
watch its own descent into fascism
as it shrugs.
I have had to step away from social media.
All the speculation
about whether to go
or whether to stay
and whether anywhere on Earth is truly safe.
My trans friends debate
whether it’s too early to leave
and what the trigger for running should be
and if it’s already happened.
Most can’t afford to move
even to a blue state.
So they discuss
how to arm themselves
and to fight
and to prepare for the worst.
Suicide before genocide.
I stopped watching horror movies
when I began living them.
I can no longer stomach the lie of survival.
They gave Sidney Prescott a happy ending.
Then they snatched it away
from her
to make more movies/money.
Who wants to be a final girl anyway?
The last one standing
after all your loved ones are dead?
Life shouldn’t be a consolation prize.
People fled tyranny and oppression
in other countries
to come to America,
a place of hope and opportunity.
Now we are the ones
preparing to leave our home
in search of safety and a future
If you live long enough,
you will understand history better than you ever wanted to.
I bought tea cups
with matching saucers
I saw your life
spread out with
prices
I wanted to buy it all
because I’m good
at carrying
a dead man’s legacy
that I didn’t even know
expectation
makes fools of us cats
like dots that suddenly disappear
beneath our paws
She knew something was up when she did
not just open up that message and respond.
Another thing happened before she answered
instead. She knew she was falling for him when
that first smile crept across her face when his
name appeared and lit up her world (or at least
her phone screen). One first smile turned into
thousands everyday and that’s how she knew
something magical was about to happen to her.
My very first grandaugther
with your firey red hair
Bouncing like tiger through my fromt door
Gigi where are you?
Are you ready for our day?
Adventures galore
Laughter fills the air
I scoop you up with pure delight
So what will it be ?
Off to the library to read some books
Next up water fun at the pool
No time for rest
Let’s go for a walk
Reaching up with your tiny fingers
You whisper
Gigi take my hand
Off we go
These precious moments touch our hearts
It is quite magical, the love of a grandchild
SLB
Hey little baby, hey little sugar,
little baby sugar, you been real
quiet lying in the tall grass
lounging like trouble in heat
at night, you seek
to quench your thirst
and quiet the pains of hunger
when my offering is too little
from a high perch, at me, you laugh
and when there is rain
you mark his home as your own
I see you sunbathing
ignoring the drool that gathers
at the corners of your mouth
and I laugh at your willful stubbornness
let me save you, here, here, little baby
come on, lil baby sugar
lemme take you to my place
lemme wipe you down
lemme make you a bed
and share my pillows with you.
Stubborn old man.
one day, sir
yes, I will
yes, I will
yes, I will
persuade you with tuna
and while your pride saunters off
I will laugh.
savanna of cloud
elephant’s trunk, giraffe’s neck,
the shell of a giant African snail
sidling up to the mucuous
membrane of mist shadowing
hydrangea blooms on ocean
scarred by blade and oar.
