Constructive Criticism
You run
for your life,
avoiding
shots fired.
I sit
with a loaded gun,
waiting for you
to stop running.
You run
for your life,
avoiding
shots fired.
I sit
with a loaded gun,
waiting for you
to stop running.
by Quinn, just turned three
Discussed/written down by his Oma (me),
who dared to rewrite his last line.
A bat flapped his wings.
I saw water— it was blue
like my Oma’s pen. I smelled
pineapple and heard
a lemur scream.
And I laughed big.
Chittering protest
As I coax the exhausted pest onto my boot
His leathery wing matches that of
The aged and scuffed footwear
No amount of “easy buddy” or “big mads”
Can quell the injustice of an eviction
That they couldnt comprehend,
Teeth bared that signify a swear.
You wouldnt really consider this old building a bat cave. But then it isnt what you got with what you do, it’s what you do with what you got, and what one can bear.
Wrong place wrong time seems to follow
Wether is white nose, rabies, covid
Or babies. Fear seems to be limiting
Factor to those being able to care.
I left them under an evergreen, away from the harsh sun, misfortune, and traffic.
His home, safety, and rest still up the hill.
Eyes closing, chittering softening. Back to daily fare.
Fly well tonight little hero, may you return wild and free. The bat we didnt deserve, but one our world needs.
She, hot red
lip and he, beached
as a whale, sung
to their cocktails, Darlin’!
and, Come ‘ere darlin’
and, I got you babe, and,
I, sober, fell a bit
drunk in love.
but he stomps his foot
on the church’s hollow stage
in perfect rhythm.
How beautiful -– the feet of
a drummer without a drum.
Come sit back with me, again
If just for a minute
We don’t need to plan another garden now
Or a grove or farm this land
But we can look at the two trees we planted
Strong and beautiful
Stay behind the line
you say
until you allow
as if we aren’t together
as if we’re still an unfathomable thing
more than ten years after
rainbows covered that house of white
in a brief flare
of maybe
it’s alright to be yourself
dissolving into security, now
for someone else.
The nuclear family
you let pass between us
purposely
while my husband waits patiently?
waiting
to be called
waiting, again
to be something other
than the object
of the power
of the assumptions
you make.
I choose to think
it was just a mistake
that the spirit of June rainbows
remains intact
that waiting
is something we’ve still moved past
save for brief blips like this one
that just can’t last.
it has been a decade
since i triathaloned
a twenty two year old body
handled it more easily
than at thirty one
i look a little different in my jersey
rounder around the edges
but i can still achieve
the lofty goal
of a three sport morning
without adequate training
the biking is the worst
my ass hurts
yet the years
have not made
the difference
i expected
but i will be damned
if i don’t have one heap of a headache
