Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Nu-Sensical

Nu hasn't eaten her lunch--a wedge of Tortilla EspaƱola from dinner the day before.

Because: "You didn't pack me a fork!"

But: "I ate everything else! Even the sour cream for the tortilla. Although it wouldn't come out and I had to use my fingers."



It's a good thing then that FB sent me a great memory yesterday.





_

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Surrender

I lie
my feet in fetters

I rise
a canopy dweller

Let you
tell me

What I
already see


_

Monday, September 21, 2015

I forgot...

...I was being filmed for a documentary on rape culture and showed up at work with workout hair and in my non-teaching uniform.



But it was a productive conversation, and I was so outraged by my own talking points that I forgot my customary camera wariness fairly quickly.

_

Sunday, September 20, 2015

I Need a Tiny Violin

I had a headache from spending an hour in the car with the teen driver today,
and all my mom had to WhatsApp back when I complained, was ":)."




_

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Little Leslie Hermione Knope




Nu gave up being bossy
at her American Girl 
Cooking Class...


to go show us
how to be bossy 
on the soccer field.


In this picture, she's jabbering 
with her coaches 
she's SO cute!


_

Friday, September 18, 2015

Up, Up and Away...

This post caught my eye on the sidebar this morning, and I got a little choked up. We don't know where At's friend R is or how he is.

And my own At--the champion of cuddles and calm, sometime spotter of grocery cash, constant companion--is now 16.

Sixteen. Still a champion and companion, but a grown up one. One who has plans to go away for college (no more: 'I'm going to live in the basement'), a critical thinker who questions my social justice outrage (more: 'is that the best way to convince people?'), still somewhat wiser than his years (A lot of: 'Jesus, Mom! I told you not to engage in arguments with hate groups!'). 

And clearly more comfortable with swearing--and every aspect of himself--every day.

I am so incredibly proud.

And so unready.








_

Thursday, September 17, 2015

And on the Teen Clockmaker...

They never thought he had a bomb- by Andy Illes

I said: it's sad they thought that kid had a bomb.
She said: they didn't think he had a bomb.
I said: yes, they thought he made a bomb and even called the police.
She said: They just wanted to humiliate a little Muslim, African boy. They didn't think he had a bomb.
I said: Don't be a conspiracist. They might be a little prejudiced, but I'm sure they thought he had a bomb.

She said: Ok.

But they didn't evacuate the school, like you do when there's a bomb.
They didn't call a bomb squad - like you do when there's a bomb
They didn't get as far away from him as possible - like you do when there's a bomb.
Then they put him and the clock in an office- not like you do when there's a bomb
Then they waited with him for the police to arrive.
Then they put the clock in the same car as the police.
Then they took pictures of it.
I said: Damn
They never thought he had a bomb.


From here

_

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Almost...

Pic courtesy J C-D

All I can think of is the poet Kambar 
talking about how magnificent 
young Rama's shoulders were:
*
"Thol kandar; tholey kandar!"
"Those who saw his shoulders,
saw only his shoulders!"
*
(Those shoulders--so perfect, 
no one could look away AND
so broad that they never got around
to completing the act of looking)

_

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Remembering


The way she says, "forever"
makes it sound like a long word.

She's never heard of "never"
it falls behind her mind's hedge

The sun peers into my eyes
today, the way she used to--

Tugging my eyelids open
saying, "you're awake now?"

_

Friday, September 11, 2015

Hero


Among all the stories circulating around today,
this was the one that made me cry (first).
The story of the last living 

And the 2,976 American,
 48,644 Afghani, 
1,690,930 Iraqi, 
3,500 Pakistani,
victims
_

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Ode to August

Memories of mud
of being handled
by sun

Peonies peeling so
dense, opulent,
blushing

Earth unevened by
legions of night
travelers

I rule lying in wait
waiting to be
caught

Until, we ourselves
O love, are unruly
habit

_

Wednesday, September 09, 2015

Some Mornings

The sky is full of faces
we greet them
at breakfast

While the wind fumbles
sighing, tired
at the door


_

Monday, September 07, 2015

Illusion

The day may never end
its intimacy with salty
kisses

As if I'm someone else
reading backwards--
breaks


_

Friday, September 04, 2015

Tradition….

Tiny pine seedlings
from the Traditions dinner. 
Hope to see how big they grow--
and how far my students can go.

_

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Trans-Local





Dad's big birthday today
We're just too far away.
But we get
an archana and a pattu
veshti for Ganesha.

And for ourselves,
lunch (with Mimosas).
Now we''re celebrating
(Even though
the birthday boy is teetotal.)

_

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Siblings


Happy Raksha Bandan, little ones
May you always love each other
and be each other's protection.

_



Monday, July 06, 2015

Saturday, June 20, 2015

At Yellowstone...

I had visions of puppies playing in the water.
But they were convinced the wavelets were foe.


_

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Another Two-Puppy Night

You'd have thought that 
we were safely in the warm.
But tonight, it's time once again
to break out the big comforters
and both the puppies...

_

Monday, March 16, 2015

Second Chances

It was really At's second chance
(he'd forgotten his algebra packet
and I was taking it to him...)
But going down that road again
The sun beaming down on me,
It felt like mine too.


Sunday, March 15, 2015

No...

This is not a still from A Beautiful Mind.
We painted the kids' closets 
with blackboard paint 
when we moved in
And Nu loves it.
Clearly.
_

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

One Stew to Carry it all and Cure Us



At's sick… he wanted...

something hot and soothing for dinner.
Behold our soup 
with every ingredient known to help colds:

Chicken, mackerel, 
ginger root, garlic, tomatoes,
cabbage, broccoli,

black pepper, turmeric, 
mint and jalapeƱos,
sprinkles of salt

Then a bit of limon and C's salsa 
from the summer of 2014 for heat.
It's delicious and magical.

__

Monday, March 09, 2015

My Monday Challenge

My Monday Challenge is basically... trying not to claw my arms off or take my shirt off in the office. The sweater I have on is miraculously comfy on my torso, but sososo itchy on my arms!

For the first time since I've had a job--practically--I'm counting down the hours before I can go home.

_

Monday, March 02, 2015

Compense

Wrestling an ocean of sky
the lyrics of whited valleys,
I crave the salt of the wind

the taste of words whipped
with sea air (hold the snow).
This land calls me by all names

But holds itself cold and aloof 
hushing with remembered formality
calculations, welcomes, and reunions.

_

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Twice as Nice

The "Railway Clock" 
my parents gave us is finally up.
(Now we can panic about school drop off
coming down AND going up the hallway…)

Monday, February 23, 2015

Seeing Clearly

And suddenly… she needed heavy glasses.
All the times signboards went unread or 
wildlife stayed invisible now makes sense :/.

_

Monday, February 09, 2015

Sunday, February 08, 2015

Moment



I've climbed a tree
and I'm talking down

to you.
The moon,

stony-faced, circles the empty basketball net,
is reflected in a crescent of watermelon.


_





Saturday, February 07, 2015

Testing

Their sister
is at retreat/
long camp
(rehab)

Then when
they took tests
to see if they too
were dependent

they found only
two options:
dependent OR
very dependent

__


Friday, February 06, 2015

On the Night it Comes

You're calm, sleeping
with the lights on
between both parents

growing ghosts
deliciously
for the thrill of it

blankets in a clutch
with a firm hold
of yourself

in the old silence
in the odd silence
lips

are layered
with prayers
in the shadows

just beyond
the frame
of side vision

darkness strays.
It reads you
and then stays

bending
at the waist
from far away

and if it doesn't
come further,
or get too close

you could still love it

_


Thursday, February 05, 2015

Un-Prayer

these fingers twin
from shaping time
your hair sinuous
works its way alive

this gaze is like god's--
absolutely no concern
marking a jigsaw world
blowing a heady wind

the song rises
but the dance clings
fears and errors tell
warnings and knells

_

Wednesday, February 04, 2015

MacGirlver

Rigged myself a standing desk.
(Then sat down at the computer to post about it.)

_

Sunday, February 01, 2015

Friday, January 30, 2015

Melting...

(Not the snow in Michigan, sadly.)

Just my sentimental mama heart 
when I come across these two
holding hands and talking 
on the walk home. 

_

Friday, January 23, 2015

The Sense of an Ending

the sky is a staircase
the sounds of the day
going away

The dark is to
tear down stars
all of ours

squeeze their affluent
and vintage shine
wet as wine

_

Thursday, January 22, 2015

When making people happy

becomes almost as important 
as doing the right thing
(or doing the thing right).

_

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Malaysian Airlines?

At asks
when I send a picture of my empty row.
Laugh or cry?
Discuss amongst yourselves.

_

Wednesday, January 07, 2015

A Third Coast


On the brine of memory
the ink of veins marks spots

It is a storm of forgetting;
at each sob, she jettisons

Parents as they were, embraces
in sorrow how they now are

sweeps it all into feeling
grabbing and flailing even so

_



Monday, December 01, 2014

Stand Down

Reaching for amusement
but the door slams

meticulous and tight.
Spinning silently,

breath touches corners
and then as surely

is inhaled back in
brittle as silk

_

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Novemberance

Foreshortened day,
unwelcome touch,
and unkind light.

I read the warnings,
count out their syllables. 

Then snow webs 
untidy, un-mappable, 
planting everywhere.

Racing, erasing my flesh, 
being, becoming my body.

_

Monday, November 17, 2014

Keepsake

         a smile-dusted child

swarms grandly
up hope's slope
unfurls something

         bigger than the world

mouth stretched wide
so smiles endearments
all--are kinds of kisses

_

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Ugh, Bill Cosby


In the wake of Trayvon Martin and Michael Browne, I found The Cosby Show on TVLND and it became a habit to watch/listen to reruns while I folded laundry or cleaned. It was somewhat escapist and a little bit inspiring to hark back to some golden age where a sitcom about a black family was the show of choice for most of middle America. Internally, I quietly disagreed with much of Clive Huxtable's parenting; separately, I vociferously disagreed with Bill Cosby's pronouncements about "Welfare Moms and Thugs," still it carried on.

Until all these reports of Bill Cosby's rape of multiple young (and teen) women.

_

Friday, November 14, 2014

Absence

Well, I don't know.
In small portions
this body would be fields

of stupid ideas repeated
a concussion of cowardice
in all the openings
of kind words unsaid.

But where are you?
It's time to feed ghosts at the
pressing behest of their buttons

And soon we'll be: 
ancient or innocent
epochal or whatever
and just not the same.

_

Thursday, November 13, 2014

In Silence


Speaking still
in triangles
the moon's half smile
last night gazes zen

past the brazen
stare of the phone
which kisses my fingers
promises to wake at four

And after that, the flare
of the soft scimitar
of your mouth
dim with sleep

_




Wednesday, November 12, 2014

"I'm a weirdo/doofus/nerd/naif" (Part MXVIII)

I realized during my meditation this morning that my energy for contacting so many people yesterday (the "emotional labor" that St...