Thanks for the directions when
I had to turn around at the road block
where a car was turned on its top.

I noticed your holster bolstered on your hip,
your wife beater and boots, but mostly
I noticed your tattoos.

And although you were polite, our
interaction minimal, I knew
I couldn’t trust you, not really.

Not for any more than those directions.
I could tell you felt big going down the line of
cars to let them know the wait would be long

and to route us all around.
Take the old road, you said, and I imagine
that’s how you feel about a lot of things.

The only good thing 
about hot nights is that’s 
when tomatoes ripen.
You will find them
at the next farmers
market, sweet with heat,
heavy with summer rain. 

Victoria emerged from her
decade mourning to celebrate
Bertie’s recovery, but poor
Mary Todd arrived home that same

year with Tad, sickly, only for
July to take him home to be
with his two brothers & father –
her husband – & compound her grief.

Two Time Space Camp Attendee
Smug Teetotaler – Freshman Class, University of Evansville
Senior Who Misses a Lot of Class, University of Evansville
Twelve Year Drinking Binge Survivor
Five Time Sober Sam of the Year 
Kentucky Colonel, Commisioned by Gov. Andy Beshear
Homeowner (Grand Prize for Best Manic Episode Ever) 
World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion
Doctor Certified Pill Swallower
This Motherfucker Right Here

        A friend of my mother

I’m too tired to
complete the challenge today—
don’t feel good right now.

It’s a color
it’s a feeling
every day affects you.

Blue skies
blue eyes
blue moods
blue birds’ chirps too.

Blues music for groovin’
blue blankets for soothin’
rain coming soon
when white clouds turn blue

Pretty bright blue flowers
have mood soothing powers.
Which color most soothing to you?
Perhaps it will always be blue.

the self you leave behind is only the skin you’ve outgrown
like a snake
many a skin has been shed
in slithering forth on this journey 
skins discarded bringing one closer to the one meant to be

the skin of the young braided co-ed restless and determined
skin of the invincible youngin’ who jumped a freight hitching west to east
tasting her conservative history and solid stability
this travel skin lit a match in the soul of a restless gypsy

the skin of the ever-searching ever-questioning Catholic
one who sought spiritual refuge in a Guru in an Ashram
meditating, fasting, practicing yoga’s fifth limb, prudent pratyahara
skin that withdrew the senses from external objects to turn deeply inward

to peel back the skin of samskaras ~ the subtle mental imprints left by past
thoughts, actions and incarnations
a skin that served to quiet the mind and instill deeper states of meditation

now after years on this slithering journey a dire need is embraced to place self-care, deep listening and repetition of loving self-commentary a daily practice of reptilian survival

to lead with Love in the crusade of desert survival
to compliment the trials and glean the gifts of wisdom
to be charmed by the hypnotic flute of innocent truth 

The ocean at moms house is the highway hidden by trees
the breaking waves is the traffic
golden hour is for watering the flowers around the house
there are hanging ferns,
hostas imported from Grandma’s farm,
pink and white impatients,
If it’s in a pot you have to water it. 
so each evening as the sun slips lower she walks the boundaries,
Mom’s vigil broken only to wave at the neighbors and say goodnight to the cone flowers 
the fireflies light her way home. 

Crawl across the spine of Earth
drink the cooling blue of her blood
kiss the green softness of her body
show her the beauty of being alive
as she has gifted you,
yet you have not returned.
Oh constant abuser,
burning her skin with discarded waste
and half put out cigarette butts,
could you find the decency
to pick it all back up
mend the pieces fully
rather than a half-ass apology
trailing moments of healing
but not wholly repairing
the damage you’ve left
creating a lasting scar
on the sacred breasts
you’ve garnered life from?