up next

fog like whiteness giving over to nothing
only scarves and neckties are flowering

I play a matchbox and then a jukebox

sitting here quietly with my knife

I cut a path of spirals through smiles

of my own motherhood brimming

only to hide under frosty glares

as though the sky is burning 

isn't it strange how we define words

with more words and... gesturing

how even the ruins of a day

can be filled with people

____________________

Note: KB talked to KO and I got a long, kind, and helpful walk-and-talk about options (with KO). Cannot describe how it feels to be understood and validated.

hymn

now gone the silver hair

in the dusk to dust 

the theft and the torment 

how they abide

amazing--go ahead, ask

about our dead

while symptoms, suffering

in the event hide

all we lost and never found 

rippling under water

#QEII 

promise

from under the belly of the bridge

I arrive like wonder 

like a wound

flickering like prayer or heartbeat 

remembered, returned,

and restitute

surely, it must be true that others

too, climbed language like

a promised land

when the city pulls back

quiet days have their own story
happy or not, peace or loss

a small warm animal 

being

both presence and invisibility 

to bark--now what--free yet

there should you want

a snuggle

Pic: Red Cedar River

Happy Labor Day

At sent us this pic of his Labor Day picnic (it was on Twitter too, so I decided it was ok to share).

Love to see young joy and solidarity. 

 

my joy

The day was bookended by their grandmothers' worried and in tears about them on the phone (Grandma S starting with texts in the morning, Ammama on a video call at night) so it felt especially nice to hang back and watch these two goof off as usual around the dinner table. 

I (have to) believe every little thing's gonna be alright.

repair and respair

Orientation today at MacCurdy. Yes, it's a Saturday, but when you have the kind of wonderfully idealistic, engaged activists MacCurdy attracts, it doesn't seem like work at all. 

We covered a lot: residence rules, a calendar of events for the upcoming year, possible collaborations with other groups, and participatory protocols. I'm super excited. And as always, some of the questions they came up with made me think hard and rethink entrenched beliefs. I suspect that in a way, they do keep me young. 

Sadly, some of the Planned Parenthood and Black Lives Matter posters they'd had in the windows were vandalized over the summer (Pic). They plan to repair them with gold paint kintsugi style. ♥️ I took a walk during break and came back wondering if we could offer restorative justice options for the offenders.