A bright orange sun against a blue sky

Falls quickly during our drive

Our words stumble over each others

Topics flying out of the window

A quick music break because the song is too good

We make it to your driveway

To sit and laugh

The strawberry moon finally says hello,

And we bask in its pink light

We’ll snap blurry pictures

That we may never look back on,

,But any time spent with you is hardly forgettable

And darling, you are as rare as the pink moon

I was born in a factory

On my moms lunch break

An hour later she was sent back to work

And I got placed in onboarding ,

Trained from the womb

Working to the tomb

My dad stopped by on his 15 minute breaks just to watch me work,

Running the line ,

With no time to fill my mind with who I am or who I want to be

I Let my feelings go on the conveyor belt

And I wonder where they could be.

I was born in a factory,

What did you expect from me?

I heard there’s a place called outside

Where you can be free and feel a breeze

But this sounds like a dream

To live how I want and to be me, but what would I do? What would I see? Would I take it all in or start organizing the trees? Cleaning the grass and counting the bees

What would I do,

How can one live without a boss to please?

What do you expect from me, I was born in a factory.

it’s in the kneading of hands in soft dough
the smell of earth after a fresh rain
the genuine smile from a stranger
a silk pillow soaked in tears from a good cry
the breeze 
underneath 
the strawberry sky

I’m ready to gather now            
            Where you once kissed me  

With sweet mead & rose            
            Against the door’s opening frame  

This blush berry hung low            
            As we looked long in the reflection  

Full as a thickening summer            
            On a car’s rolled window  

To say, “wouldn’t we make            
            The most beautiful couple”

Strawberry moon
That’s what the weatherman called it
This morning
I see a full moon
Quite often
But this one has a name
So I must
Seek it out

Aftet dark
I tread lightly 
In my granny gown
And bare feet
The strawberry moon
Isn’t hard to find
Only it doesn’t look
Like a strawberry
It looks like a big, glowing ball
Of golden butter

The moon glows bright
Behind night-blackened
Branches and leaves
I move my head
This way and that
Trying to get
The best view
And in that moment
I gaze at the moon
Hear only silence in the night
And I smile

Wouldn’t it have been cool
to go to space in our 20’s,
before babies and medical conditions
that required constant monitoring.
Like this late onset diabetes
hitting home at 30,
Nnot the MBP pick after the World Series,
Casey jones swinging away home.
Every step, monitored, measured.
Every bite of food-stuff
rehydrated after 10 years of sleep,
every minute of every day
given back with micro doses
of insulin and every other drug
meant to extend life.
It would have been fun to go to Pluto
when I was on my 20’s,
before all of this. 

I was there when…
my cousin Ron raced to the top 
of the old pine tree on papaw’s land
I really thought we were on top of the world. 

I was there when…
when my best friend Helen 
popped the clutch in her 1991 Cavelier,
skipped a gear and almost killed me 
stopping just before we skidded into a mailbox. 

I was there when, 
my grandfather would hang Christmas lights 
every year in Van Lear Junction until he couldn’t
the cancer done rattled too deep into his bones
“Mert is that you?”He asked me looking up at me 
as I’d helped to bring him back to life one last time.

I was there when,
my children took their first breaths,steps, achievements,
as we gathered around many a grave to say goodbye 
through laughter, tears, shouting, recipes of broken childhoods
sharing a fresh batch of oysters with our children in the ocean air
a road trip with no destination, unmarked territory and full tank of gas 
I was there when life was happening and thought no one was watching.

with red hot joints
yellowing lungs  
alkaline heavy sweat 
I can see this gate 
that needs to be held open
someone coming down 
a over saturated green hill 

when I come to
then television has
went dark 
the cats slumbering 
beside me 

but I can’t shake 
the panic of
holding open 
a deep yellow gate 
for someone 
I don’t even know 

            In an air conditioned room

i told myself i’d never love anyone who didn’t like joni mitchell
—-you didn’t like joni mitchell,
& you left me to wail,
wounded me knowing the blow was fatal—-
you didn’t like joni mitchell

JUST BEFORE OUR LOVE GOT LOST…

i survived
my therapist told me nothing was being threatened
or harmed
i just hurt
i stitched the fatal wound

YOU SAID, I AM AS CONSTANT AS A NORTHERN STAR

i can see what you mean about love being trite:
it’s a stupid word to describe how i feel
when you know me
when i’ve never felt safer & it’s all right
when you finally sing “a case of you,” looking right at me