Posts for 2025 (page 17)

Preening like a dove In the palms of God

They always say we’re spoiled
We have it the best
We get everything we want
And sure, growing up it may have felt that way
But we slowly stop hearing it as we get older

We’re the ones that get left behind
That have to figure it out after your gone
We become the parent to our parents
We stay in the small town
We hear people ask how dad is after the accident
We worry about making sure they aren’t lonely
We ask them “have you heard from her lately”
“Only a text goodnight”
We get the least amount of family time
The older siblings go off,
They set the example
Start living they’re own

And I’m still here
Too afraid to say goodbye
Too afraid to be the one they remember saying goodbye
Afraid they will have expected more
Afraid I’ll be the only one to show up to the old folks home
Afraid I’ll be the last one standing
With no one to lean on

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.